Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF NUTRITION
Volume 117, Issue 7, Pages 964-978Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0007114517000216
Keywords
Bovine colostrum; Gut microbiota; Undersized piglets; 16S rRNA gene sequencing
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Funding
- Danish Council for Strategic Research
- European Colostrum Industry S.A
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The aim of this study was to characterise the gut microbiota composition of piglets fed bovine colostrum (BC), milk replacer (MR) or sow milk (SM) in the post-weaning period. Piglets (n 36), 23-d old, were randomly allocated to the three diets. Faecal samples were collected at 23, 25, 27 and 30 d of age. Digesta from the stomach, ileum, caecum and mid-colon was collected at 30 d of age. Bacterial DNA from all samples was subjected to amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Bacterial enumerations by culture and SCFA analysis were conducted as well. BC-piglets had the highest abundance of Lactococcus in the stomach (P< 0.0001) and ileal (P < 0.0001) digesta, whereas SM-piglets had the highest abundance of Lactobacillus in the stomach digesta (P< 0.0001). MR-piglets had a high abundance of Enterobacteriaceae in the ileal digesta (P< 0.0001) and a higher number of haemolytic bacteria in ileal (P= 0 . 0002) and mid-colon (P = 0.001) digesta than SM-piglets. BC-piglets showed the highest colonic concentration of iso-butyric and iso-valeric acid (P = 0.02). Sequencing and culture showed that MR-piglets were colonised by a higher number of Enterobacteriaceae, whereas the gut microbiota of BC-piglets was characterised by a change in lactic acid bacteria genera when compared with SM-piglets. We conclude that especially the ileal microbiota of BC-piglets had a closer resemblance to that of SM-piglets in regard to the abundance of potential enteric pathogens than did MR-piglets. The results indicate that BC may be a useful substitute for regular milk replacers, and as a feeding supplement in the immediate post-weaning period.
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