Abstract
Abstract An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of carbohydrate source on growth performance and gastrointestinal microbiota in nursery pigs. Ninety-six pigs weaned at 21 d were randomly allotted to 16 pens (6 pigs/pen; 4 pens/treatment) with sex being represented evenly in each pen. Pigs had ad libitum access to feed and water for the 2-phase nursery period (28 d). Dietary treatments included: 1) NutrisureTM(a food-grade cooked cereal grain product), 2) oatmeal (food-grade oatmeal grain), 3) steam-rolled oats (SRO), or 4) dried-distillers grains as a negative control (DDGS). Ileal and colonic digesta and mucosa samples were collected on d 0, 14, and 28 (n = 6, 32, and 32, respectively) for analysis of microbial species using IlluminaTMnext generation sequencing. The DNA sequences were filtered through the DADA2 pipeline, Mothur, and QIIME. Pig body weights and feeder weights were also measured on d 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28. Pigs fed DDGS had lower average daily feed intake (ADFI) compared to other treatments during phase 1 (P < 0.05), but there were no differences in average daily gain (ADG) or gain:feed (G:F) among treatment. There were no differences among treatments for ADFI, ADG, or G:F for phase 2 or the overall experimental period. Microbial composition differed significantly among location in the gastrointestinal tract (P < 0.01) and among the digesta and mucosa samples extracted from the ileum and colon. There were no significant changes in the microbiota among diets (P > 0.1). Over time, there was a trend (P = 0.111) for the microbiota to vary; however, there was no interaction between the diet and sampling timepoint. In conclusion, carbohydrate sources did not affect gastrointestinal microbiota composition, ADFI, ADG, or G:F overall in this experiment. However, feed intake during phase 1 differed between DDGS and oat-based carbohydrate sources and microbial species were different between digesta and mucosa in the ileum and colon.
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