171 Fecal microbiota transplant at weaning improves growth performance and alters fecal microbiome in pigs

Abstract

Abstract To evaluate the effect of fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) on the growth performance and fecal microbiome, a total of 24 weaned pigs were stratified by weaning BW and sex, and assigned to one of two groups: a) Control (20% glycerol); b) FMT (from a healthy-grower-stage-no-antibiotics-treated pig). Microbiota mixture or placebo were drenched to pigs for two consecutive days after weaning (d-0 and -1). All pigs were fed antibiotics-free diets for an 8 feeding phase regimes: nursery phase 1, 2, and 3 (0–8, 8–21 and 21–40 d, respectively); finisher phase 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (40–63, 63–78, 78–117, 117–138, and 138–166 d, respectively). Individual pig BW was recorded at each phase change, and FOMeater data were collected at the end of trial. Growth and carcass data were analyzed by GLM procedure of SAS (Cary, NC) as CBD. Rectal swabs were collected prior to treatment, on d 1 & 2, and at each phase change. DNA was extracted from these swabs, amplified by primers targeting the V4 region of the 16S rDNA gene, and sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq sequencer. Sequences were classified against Ribosomal Database Project using Mothur (v.1.42) package. Pigs received FMT tended to have greater weight gain during finisher phase 1 (1.05 vs 0.91 kg/d, P = 0.07), and heavier HCW (105.5 vs 97.6 kg, P = 0.09) than control. PCoA plot based on the Jaccard distance shows that FMT pigs microbiota community was not different from control pigs until the end of nursery phase 2 (ANOSIM, R = 0.237, P < 0.01) and 3 (R = 0.241, P = 0.01). Classification-based Random Forest revealed that OTU3 Streptococcus (d 3, 63, 117) and OTU95 Selenomonas (d 8, 21) were more abundant in the FMT pigs than in control pigs. Results suggests that FMT at weaning age from grower stage pig donor modulate microbiome and improve growth performance.