Housing Systems Influence Gut Microbiota Composition of Sows but Not of Their Piglets

PLoS One. 2017 Jan 13;12(1):e0170051. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170051. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Different housing systems can be used in pig production and little is known about their effect on gut microbiota composition. In this study we characterized fecal microbiota by sequencing the rRNA genes in sows kept during gestation in conventional pens with a slatted floor and in enriched pens with a floor covered with deep straw. After farrowing, microbiota of 1- and 4-day-old piglets were also monitored. Microbiota of sows from the enriched system contained significantly more Prevotella, Parabacteroides, CF231, Phascolarctobacterium, Fibrobacter, Anaerovibrio and YRC22 and significantly less Lactobacillus, Bulleidia, Lachnospira, Dorea, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira than microbiota of sows from the conventional system. The Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio was 0.96 in the microbiota of sows kept in the enriched pens and this increased to 1.66 in the microbiota of sows kept in the conventional system. The production system therefore influenced microbiota composition, most likely due the ingestion of the straw. The microbiota of 1- and 4-day-old piglets differed from the microbiota of sows and sows therefore did not represent the most important source for their colonization in early days of life.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Animal Husbandry*
  • Animals
  • Animals, Newborn
  • Behavior, Animal*
  • Feces / microbiology*
  • Female
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
  • Housing, Animal*
  • Microbiota / physiology*
  • Swine

Grants and funding

This work has been supported by the EU FP7 ProHealth project (no. 613574), RO0516 project of the Czech Ministry of Agriculture and AdmireVet project CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0006–ED0006/01/01 from the Czech Ministry of Education. The commercial partner CCPA was a member of research consortium of FP7 EU project similar to the other co-authors. The CCPA company did not fund work presented in this manuscript at all. The funder provided partial support in the form of salaries for authors IR, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.