Abstract
Fat is one of the most important nutrients which provides concentrated energy and essential fatty acids. High fat diet markedly changes the gut microbial composition in mammals, whereas little is known about the impact of fat type on gut microbiome. This study was to evaluate the effects of fat sources on intestinal microbiota of nursery pigs. Eighteen pigs (28 days of age, 8.13 ± 0.10 kg BW) were housed individually (n = 6 per treatment) and allotted to three treatments based on a randomized complete block design. Pigs were fed basal diets with three different fat sources: 6.0% soybean oil (SBO), 6.0% palm oil (PO), and 7.5% encapsulated palm oil (EPO, contains 80% palm oil) respectively. Pigs were euthanized after 28 days of ad libitum feeding, and the digesta in the distal duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum and colon of each pig were obtained for microbial composition analysis. Correlation analyses were also performed between microbial composition with nutrients digestibility or growth performance. The results showed that pigs fed PO had marked changes in the bacteria community composition with increasing the richness and diversity in duodenum and jejunum (P < 0.05). Increased abundances of Proteobacteria in duodenum, jejunum and cecum, and decreased abundance of Firmicutes in jejunum were observed in pigs fed PO compared to SBO and EPO. Pigs fed EPO decreased abundances of Proteobacteria in duodenum and jejunum, and increased abundance of Firmicutes compared to pigs fed PO, and was similar to pigs fed SBO. The microbial changes (genus) had significant negative correlation with the fat digestibility. These results indicate that palm oil supplementation in nursery pig diet alters the gut microbial composition, with the most significant changes observed in small intestine. Encapsulation of palm oil, which helps increase the digestibility of palm oil, have beneficial effect on the microbial disturbance caused by palm oil supplementation. Our findings provide a better understanding of how different fat types influence microbial composition in different parts of the intestinal tract and the correlation between bacteria composition and nutrients digestibility, which may provide a new perspective for the rational application of fat in diet.
Highlights
Dietary composition affects the available nutrients for hosts, and regulates gut microbial community (Ley et al, 2006)
Many of the phylotypes found in the intestine tract are detected only through the use of Abbreviations: ADFI, average daily feed intake; ADG, average daily gain; AMOVA, a molecular variance analysis; ATTD, apparent total tract digestibility; BW, body weight; CP, crude protein; DI, diarrhea incidence; DM, dry matter; EE, ether extract; encapsulation of palm oil (EPO), encapsulated palm oil; F/G, feed conversion ratio, ADFI/ADG; Operational taxonomic units (OTUs), operational taxonomic units; principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), principal coordinates analysis; PO, palm oil; SBO, soybean oil; SEM, standard error mean
Species diversity indices (Shannon and Simpson) of pigs fed PO were different from pigs fed SBO and EPO, whereas species richness indices were not affected by the dietary treatments (Figure 1E)
Summary
Dietary composition affects the available nutrients for hosts, and regulates gut microbial community (Ley et al, 2006). The digestibility of long-chain saturated fats (palm oil, lard, tallow) is lower than that of long-chain unsaturated fats (soybean oil, corn oil) and medium-chain saturated fats (coconut oil) (Cera et al, 1988, 1989, 1990). Those indigestible fats might act as a nutritional source for bacteria and have the potential to regulate gut bacterial community. The conventional or cultural standard methods are widely used to study the intestinal bacterial composition This is a less efficient way and has potential method bias. Many of the phylotypes found in the intestine tract are detected only through the use of Abbreviations: ADFI, average daily feed intake; ADG, average daily gain; AMOVA, a molecular variance analysis; ATTD, apparent total tract digestibility; BW, body weight; CP, crude protein; DI, diarrhea incidence; DM, dry matter; EE, ether extract; EPO, encapsulated palm oil; F/G, feed conversion ratio, ADFI/ADG; OTUs, operational taxonomic units; PCoA, principal coordinates analysis; PO, palm oil; SBO, soybean oil; SEM, standard error mean
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