Abstract
Early-life gut microbial colonisation is known to influence host physiology and development, shaping its phenotype. The developing gastro-intestinal tract of neonatal piglets provides a “window of opportunity” for programming their intestinal microbiota composition and corresponding intestinal development. Here, we investigated the impact of early feeding on jejunum and colon microbiota composition, and intestinal maturation in suckling piglets. From two days of age, early-fed (EF; n = 6 litters) piglets had access to solid feed containing a mixture of fibres till weaning (day29) in addition to sow’s milk, whereas the control (CON; n = 6 litters) piglets exclusively fed on sow’s milk. Early feeding elicited a significant impact on the colon microbiota, whereas no such effect was seen in the jejunal and ileal microbiota. Quantified eating behavioural scores could significantly explain the variation in microbiota composition of EF piglets and support their classification into good, moderate, and bad eaters. Members of the Lachnospiraceae family, and the genera Eubacterium, Prevotella, and Ruminococcus were quantitatively associated with eating scores. EF piglets were found to have a decreased pH in caecum and colon, which coincided with increased short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations. Moreover, they also had increased weights and lengths of several intestinal tract segments, as well as a decreased villus-crypt ratio in jejunal mucosa and an increased abundance of proliferative cells in colon mucosa. The approaches in this study indicate that early feeding of a mixed-fibre (pre-weaning) diet changes the microbiota composition, pH, and fermentation products in the distal gut of piglets, while it also alters both macroscopic and microscopic intestinal measurements. These results exemplify the potential of early feeding to modulate intestinal development in young piglets.
Highlights
Early-life gut microbial colonisation is known to influence host physiology and development, shaping its phenotype
We evaluated the impact of early-life feeding strategy on the intestinal microbiota composition in different regions of the intestinal tract, and investigate its consequences for intestinal development and maturation
Microbial families like Lactobacillaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Clostridiaceae 1 were found to be dominant in the small intestinal samples whereas Rikenellaceae, Prevotellaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae were more abundant in the large intestine (Fig. 1B; Supplementary Fig. 2A). This was further demonstrated by microbiota compositional analysis as a function of ‘intestinal location’ which identified dominant microbial groups associated with each intestinal segment (Fig. 1B)
Summary
Early-life gut microbial colonisation is known to influence host physiology and development, shaping its phenotype. The approaches in this study indicate that early feeding of a mixedfibre (pre-weaning) diet changes the microbiota composition, pH, and fermentation products in the distal gut of piglets, while it alters both macroscopic and microscopic intestinal measurements. Dietary fibres have been implicated in gastrointestinal tract development and mucosal changes in pigs[26,27] These fermentable fibres pass through the small intestine undigested and act as a substrate for the distal gut microbiota, stimulating microbial fermentation and short chain fatty acid(s) (SCFA(s)) production in the colon. We hypothesised that the preweaning consumption of solid mixed-fibre feed would result in an increased level of undigested substrate in the colon, and investigated its impact on local microbiota composition, SCFA production, macroscopic development of the digestive system, as well as its microscopic consequences on mucosal morphology. Suckling piglets show large variation in solid feed intake before weaning [between[51] and within litters52], and we exploited the quantified variation in eating behaviour of piglets to assess the impact of early feeding at an individual piglet level
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