Differences in gut microbiota composition in finishing Landrace pigs with low and high feed conversion ratios

Hong Ao,Shaokang Chen,Chuduan Wang,Yuan Wang,Zhen Tan,Kai Xing,Fengxia Zhang,Ting Yang,Jianfeng Liu,Xitong Zhao

doi:10.1007/s10482-018-1057-1

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate the microbial communities in the gut and feces from female finishing Landrace pigs with high and low feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Many potential biomarkers can distinguish between high and low FCR groups in the duodenum, ileum, cecum, colon, and rectum, according to linear discriminant analysis effect sizes. The relative abundance of microbes were tested by Mann–Whitney test between the high and low FCR groups in different organs: Campylobacter, Prevotella and Sphaerochaeta were different in the duodenum (P < 0.05); Sanguibacter, Kingella and Anaeroplasma in jejunum; Anaeroplasma, Arthrobacter, Kingella, Megasphaera and SMB53 in the ileum; Butyricicoccus, Campylobacter, Mitsuokella, and Coprobacillus in the cecum; Lactococcus and Peptococcus in the colon; Staphylococcus in the rectum; and Rothia in feces. The prevalence of microbial genera in certain locations could potentially be used as biomarkers to distinguish between high and low FCR. Functional prediction clustering analysis suggested that bacteria in the hindgut mainly participated in carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism, and different in the relative abundance of metabolic pathways, as predicted from the microbial taxa present, were identified by comparing the high and low groups of each location. The results may provide insights for the alteration of the intestinal microbial communities to improve the growth rate of pigs.

Highlights

Because of the rapid development of metagenomic studies, the gut microbiota from a variety of animals have been studied extensively in recent years for their role in disease causation and gut health maintenance, which has a marked influence on the health and performance of domestic livestocks
We investigated the microbial communities in the gut contents and feces from female finishing Landrace pigs with high and low feed conversion ratio (FCR) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
By functional comparison of the high and low FCR groups in cecal and colonic microbiota, we found the microorganisms that differed in abundance were mainly related to carbohydrate metabolism

Summary

Introduction

Because of the rapid development of metagenomic studies, the gut microbiota from a variety of animals have been studied extensively in recent years for their role in disease causation and gut health maintenance, which has a marked influence on the health and performance of domestic livestocks. Gut microbes share an essential and symbiotic relationship with their host. Microbes assist the host in maximizing the nutritional value of its diet. The large intestine plays the dominant role in microbial fermentation, where the resident microbiota decompose polysaccharides (such as resistant starch and dietary fiber) that are poorly hydrolyzed by enzymes in the small intestine (Louis et al 2007; Schwiertz et al 2010). The main products of the microbial fermentation of carbohydrates under anaerobic conditions are short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate (Macfarlane and Gibson 1997), which can be utilized by the host. In the epithelial cells of the colon, ketone bodies and carbon dioxide are produced by the metabolism of butyrate (Louis et al 2007). The SCFAs produced by bacteria provide an additional source of energy for the body

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