Abstract
BackgroundFeed efficiency is a crucial parameter in swine production, given both its economic and environmental impact. The gut microbiota plays an essential role in nutrient digestibility and is, therefore, likely to affect feed efficiency. This study aimed to characterize feed efficiency, fatness traits, and gut microbiome composition in three major breeds of domesticated swine and investigate a possible link between feed efficiency and gut microbiota composition.ResultsAverage daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), residual feed intake (RFI), backfat, loin depth, and intramuscular fat of 615 pigs belonging to the Duroc (DR), Landrace (LR), and Large White (LW) breeds were measured. Gut microbiota composition was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Orthogonal contrasts between paternal line (DR) and maternal lines (LR+LW) and between the two maternal lines (LR versus LW) were performed. Average daily feed intake and ADG were statistically different with DR having lower ADFI and ADG compared to LR and LW. Landrace and LW had a similar ADG and RFI, with higher ADFI and FCR for LW. Alpha diversity was higher in the fecal microbial communities of LR pigs than in those of DR and LW pigs for all time points considered. Duroc communities had significantly higher proportional representation of the Catenibacterium and Clostridium genera compared to LR and LW, while LR pigs had significantly higher proportions of Bacteroides than LW for all time points considered. Amplicon sequence variants from multiple genera (including Anaerovibrio, Bacteroides, Blautia, Clostridium, Dorea, Eubacterium, Faecalibacterium, Lactobacillus, Oscillibacter, and Ruminococcus) were found to be significantly associated with feed efficiency, regardless of the time point considered.ConclusionsIn this study, we characterized differences in the composition of the fecal microbiota of three commercially relevant breeds of swine, both over time and between breeds. Correlations between different microbiome compositions and feed efficiency were established. This suggests that the microbial community may contribute to shaping host productive parameters. Moreover, our study provides important insights into how the intestinal microbial community might influence host energy harvesting capacity. A deeper understanding of this process may allow us to modulate the gut microbiome in order to raise more efficient animals.FRS6u9rn-qL8tcAUrD2dakVideo
Highlights
Feed efficiency is a crucial parameter in swine production, given both its economic and environmental impact
We identified 20, 1, 20, 26, 61, 6, and 8 taxa that were significantly associated with Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), residual feed intake 1 (RF1), residual feed intake 2 (RF2), feed conversion ratio (FCR), backfat, and loin depth, respectively, at the three different time points
Here, an effect of breeds characterized by different feed efficiency on gut microbiome was discovered
Summary
Feed efficiency is a crucial parameter in swine production, given both its economic and environmental impact. Feed efficiency is an essential trait in pig production since feed accounts for 50 to 85% of pork producers’ costs [1, 2]. Most efforts to optimize feed efficiency in pigs to date have focused on host genetics, management practices, and diet [5, 6]. Despite these factors that influence feed efficiency, little is known about the relationship between feed efficiency and different breeds of pigs. Do et al (2013) [7] discovered breed differences in heritability estimates of feed efficiency as well as variations in their phenotypic and genetic correlations among Duroc, Landrace, and Large White
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