Abstract
BackgroundThe interplay between the gut microbiota and feeding behavior has consequences for host metabolism and health. The present study aimed to explore gut microbiota overall influence on feeding behavior traits and to identify specific microbes associated with the traits in three commercial swine breeds at three growth stages. Feeding behavior measures were obtained from 651 pigs of three breeds (Duroc, Landrace, and Large White) from an average 73 to 163 days of age. Seven feeding behavior traits covered the information of feed intake, feeder occupation time, feeding rate, and the number of visits to the feeder. Rectal swabs were collected from each pig at 73 ± 3, 123 ± 4, and 158 ± 4 days of age. DNA was extracted and subjected to 16 S rRNA gene sequencing.ResultsDifferences in feeding behavior traits among breeds during each period were found. The proportion of phenotypic variances of feeding behavior explained by the gut microbial composition was small to moderate (ranged from 0.09 to 0.31). A total of 21, 10, and 35 amplicon sequence variants were found to be significantly (q-value < 0.05) associated with feeding behavior traits for Duroc, Landrace, and Large White across the three sampling time points. The identified amplicon sequence variants were annotated to five phyla, with Firmicutes being the most abundant. Those amplicon sequence variants were assigned to 28 genera, mainly including Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-004, Dorea, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014, and Marvinbryantia.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the importance of the gut microbial composition in interacting with the host feeding behavior and identified multiple archaea and bacteria associated with feeding behavior measures in pigs from either Duroc, Landrace, or Large White breeds at three growth stages. Our study provides insight into the interaction between gut microbiota and feeding behavior and highlights the genetic background and age effects in swine microbial studies.
Highlights
The interplay between the gut microbiota and feeding behavior has consequences for host metabolism and health
Significant differences between breeds were found for every feeding behavior trait during each period, except for feeding rate traits (ADFR and average feeding rate per visit (AFRV)) during P3
We identified 4, 6, and 11 amplicon sequence variant (ASV) for DR pigs, 2, 0, and 8 ASVs for LR pigs, and 3, 5, and 27 ASVs for Large White (LW) pigs at time point 1 (T1), time point 2 (T2), and time point 3 (T3) associated with feeding behavior traits, respectively (Table 1)
Summary
The interplay between the gut microbiota and feeding behavior has consequences for host metabolism and health. The present study aimed to explore gut microbiota overall influence on feeding behavior traits and to identify specific microbes associated with the traits in three commercial swine breeds at three growth stages. Seven feeding behavior traits covered the information of feed intake, feeder occupation time, feeding rate, and the number of visits to the feeder. Feeding behavior is a collection of activities that reflect the feelings of hunger or satiety of animals at different physiological or developmental stages [1]. The feeding behavior of pigs can be evaluated by feed intake, time spent eating, number of meals per day, length of and interval between meals, and feeding rate [2, 3]. Miroschnikow et al [7] found evidence of gut-derived chemical or neural signals functioning on the central nervous system to regulate various physiological activities, including feeding behavior.
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