A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment
For commercial swine producers, the natural variation in body weight amongst pigs in a herd presents a challenge in meeting the standards of meat processors who incentivize target carcass weights by offering more favorable purchase prices. Body weight variation in a swine herd is evident as early as...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Pathogens |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/5/738 |
| _version_ | 1797598767342419968 |
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| author | Emily C. Fowler Ryan S. Samuel Benoit St-Pierre |
| author_facet | Emily C. Fowler Ryan S. Samuel Benoit St-Pierre |
| author_sort | Emily C. Fowler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | For commercial swine producers, the natural variation in body weight amongst pigs in a herd presents a challenge in meeting the standards of meat processors who incentivize target carcass weights by offering more favorable purchase prices. Body weight variation in a swine herd is evident as early as birth, and it is typically maintained throughout the entire production cycle. Amongst the various factors that can affect growth performance, the gut microbiome has emerged as an important factor that can affect efficiency, as it contributes to vital functions such as providing assimilable nutrients from feed ingredients that are inedible to the host, as well as resistance to infection by a pathogen. In this context, the objective of the study described in this report was to compare the fecal microbiomes of light and heavy barrows (castrated male finishing pigs) that were part of the same research herd that was raised under commercial conditions. Using high-throughput sequencing of amplicons generated from the V1-V3 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, two abundant candidate bacterial species identified as operational taxonomic units (OTUs), Ssd-1085 and Ssd-1144, were found to be in higher abundance in the light barrows group. Ssd-1085 was predicted to be a potential strain of <i>Clostridium jeddahitimonense</i>, a bacterial species capable of utilizing tagatose, a monosaccharide known to act as a prebiotic that can enhance the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms while inhibiting the growth of bacterial pathogens. OTU Ssd-1144 was identified as a candidate strain of <i>C. beijerinckii</i>, which would be expected to function as a starch utilizing symbiont in the swine gut. While it remains to be determined why putative strains of these beneficial bacterial species would be in higher abundance in lower weight pigs, their overall high levels in finishing pigs could be the result of including ingredients such as corn and soybean-based products in swine diets. Another contribution from this study was the determination that these two OTUs, along with five others that were also abundant in the fecal bacterial communities of the barrows that were analyzed, had been previously identified in weaned pigs, suggesting that these OTUs can become established as early as the nursery phase. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:25:24Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0817 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:25:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Pathogens |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e2261e4d05d4d0eb4f66791ae5481212023-11-18T02:47:39ZengMDPI AGPathogens2076-08172023-05-0112573810.3390/pathogens12050738A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production EnvironmentEmily C. Fowler0Ryan S. Samuel1Benoit St-Pierre2Department of Animal Science, South Dakota State University, Animal Science Complex, Box 2170, Brookings, SD 57007, USADepartment of Animal Science, South Dakota State University, Animal Science Complex, Box 2170, Brookings, SD 57007, USADepartment of Animal Science, South Dakota State University, Animal Science Complex, Box 2170, Brookings, SD 57007, USAFor commercial swine producers, the natural variation in body weight amongst pigs in a herd presents a challenge in meeting the standards of meat processors who incentivize target carcass weights by offering more favorable purchase prices. Body weight variation in a swine herd is evident as early as birth, and it is typically maintained throughout the entire production cycle. Amongst the various factors that can affect growth performance, the gut microbiome has emerged as an important factor that can affect efficiency, as it contributes to vital functions such as providing assimilable nutrients from feed ingredients that are inedible to the host, as well as resistance to infection by a pathogen. In this context, the objective of the study described in this report was to compare the fecal microbiomes of light and heavy barrows (castrated male finishing pigs) that were part of the same research herd that was raised under commercial conditions. Using high-throughput sequencing of amplicons generated from the V1-V3 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, two abundant candidate bacterial species identified as operational taxonomic units (OTUs), Ssd-1085 and Ssd-1144, were found to be in higher abundance in the light barrows group. Ssd-1085 was predicted to be a potential strain of <i>Clostridium jeddahitimonense</i>, a bacterial species capable of utilizing tagatose, a monosaccharide known to act as a prebiotic that can enhance the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms while inhibiting the growth of bacterial pathogens. OTU Ssd-1144 was identified as a candidate strain of <i>C. beijerinckii</i>, which would be expected to function as a starch utilizing symbiont in the swine gut. While it remains to be determined why putative strains of these beneficial bacterial species would be in higher abundance in lower weight pigs, their overall high levels in finishing pigs could be the result of including ingredients such as corn and soybean-based products in swine diets. Another contribution from this study was the determination that these two OTUs, along with five others that were also abundant in the fecal bacterial communities of the barrows that were analyzed, had been previously identified in weaned pigs, suggesting that these OTUs can become established as early as the nursery phase.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/5/73816S rRNAmicrobiomefecalbacterial compositionbarrowswine |
| spellingShingle | Emily C. Fowler Ryan S. Samuel Benoit St-Pierre A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment Pathogens 16S rRNA microbiome fecal bacterial composition barrow swine |
| title | A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment |
| title_full | A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment |
| title_fullStr | A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment |
| title_short | A Comparative Analysis of the Fecal Bacterial Communities of Light and Heavy Finishing Barrows Raised in a Commercial Swine Production Environment |
| title_sort | comparative analysis of the fecal bacterial communities of light and heavy finishing barrows raised in a commercial swine production environment |
| topic | 16S rRNA microbiome fecal bacterial composition barrow swine |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/5/738 |
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