Abstract
Simple SummaryProper cooperation between digestive system microbiota and the host is an important issue in maintaining proper health condition, and—in the case of farm animals—production indices. In the case of pigs, microbiota significantly affect production parameters such as meat quality, growth rate or improvement of immune response to infections. Understanding of pig digestive system microbiota and factors affecting this is an important issue. This may enable improvement of animal performance and stabilization of microbiota during their growth, reducing the risk of metabolic or systemic diseases.The development of research methods and tools related to microbiome investigation, as well as widened knowledge and awareness concerning the significance of microorganisms inhabiting mammalian organisms, has led to an increasing popularity of studies in this field. This review paper presents some issues related to the swine microbiome, its development starting from an early age of life and its status in adult animals, as well as factors affecting the microbiome in pigs. Attention is paid to the role of probiotics and prebiotics as alternatives to antibiotics in the context of post-weaning diarrhea treatment, and to the role of microorganisms inhabiting the digestive tract of pigs in performance indices formation. In veterinary and pork production practice, understanding of the swine microbiome and its relationships with the host organism may be useful in the prevention of some diseases and also in improvement of performance results of animals.
Highlights
The relationship between the host and the microorganisms that colonize it has been studied since the 1960s, mainly in humans
In the case of pigs and other farm animals, it is important to know the interactions of gastrointestinal microbiota, since it is a significant issue for animal health status and production parameters such as meat quality, body weight as well as an enhanced immune response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRSV) infection, as has been demonstrated in recent research on swine microbiota [4,5,6,7]
Another study demonstrated that the Streptococcaceae family was observed in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets 6 h after birth, and they were the most abundant in the period from 1 to 3 days of life, when they were replaced by Lactobacillaceae and Clostridiaceae as a result of the so-called secondary colonization process [29] (Table 1)
Summary
The relationship between the host and the microorganisms that colonize it has been studied since the 1960s, mainly in humans. Animals 2020, 10, 527 human gastrointestinal development, immunity and brain development [8,9] For this reason, and due to its influence on physiological, nutritional and immunological processes, the structure and functional role of pig intestinal microorganisms has been an important subject of research for decades [10,11,12,13]. This relationship is an important issue for the global pork agribusiness. The current review presents the current state of research on the pig digestive tract microbiome in order to better understand host-microbial interactions and their functions
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