ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (8): 1459-1467.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.08.010

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Short-term or Long-term Intake of High-level Pea Fiber Specifically Affects the Bacterial Community and Metabolites in the Cecum of Pigs

LUO Yu-heng, CHEN Hong, YU Bing, HE Jun, HUANG Zhi-qing, MAO Xiang-bing, ZHENG Ping, YU Jie, LUO Jun-qiu, CHEN Dai-wen*   

  1. Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of Ministry of Education and Agriculture, Animal Nutrition Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
  • Received:2016-12-12 Online:2017-08-23 Published:2017-08-23

Abstract:

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of short-term or long-term feeding of high-level pea fiber (PF) on the bacterial community and metabolites in the cecum of pigs. Fifty 28 days of age healthy weaned Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire piglets with body weight of ((7.2±0.5) kg) were selected and randomly allocated in 2 groups according to the principle of no difference in body weight in each group. There were 5 replicates (5 piglets per replicate) in each group. Pigs in the control group were given basal diets. The pigs in experimental groups were fed 10%, 20% or 30% PF diets for the post-weaning period (from experiment beginning to 30 d post-weaning) growing period (30-90 d post-weaning) and finishing period (90-160 d post-weaning), respectively. At the end of the first and the last periods, one pig from each replicate in each group was sacrificed and the cecal digesta was collected immediately. The bacterial community and the numbers of certain bacterial group were detected with 454 pyrosequencing and real-time PCR. The concentrations of volatile fatty acids in the cecal digesta were measured using gas chromatography. The results showed as follows:1) Short-term or long-term intake of high-level PF had no significant effect on the ADFI and ADG of the pigs (P>0.05). 2) The long-term feeding of PF significantly increased the concentration of total volatile fatty acids and decreased the ratio of propionate in cecal digesta of pigs(P<0.05). 3) According to the result of pyrosequencing, compared with control group, the ratio of phylum Firmicutes in cecum of piglets with short-term feeding of PF was reduced by 5.6%, while the ratio of phylum Proteobacteria was increased by 4.3%. In cecum of pigs with long-term feeding of PF, the ratio of phylum Bacteroidetes was increased by 4.8%, and the ratio of phylum Firmicutes was decreased by 6.8%. Unique bacterial species were found in cecum of pigs fed with PF supplemented diet. 4) Real-time PCR analysis confirmed that, compared with control group, short-term feed of PF significantly increased the copies of total bacteria, Bacteroides-Prevotella-Porphyromonas(BPP), Enterococcus and Clostridium cluster IV (P<0.05), and the copies of Bacteroidetes, Lactobacillus and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (P<0.01), while the copies of Firmicutes was significantly decreased (P<0.01) in cecum of piglets. Long-term feeding of PF significantly increased the copies of D. desulfuricans (P ≤ 0.01), while decreased the copies of total bacteria, BPP, Helicobacter-Flexispira-Wollinella(HFW) (P<0.05), as well as the copies of Enterococcus, Streptococcus and Clostridium cluster I (P ≤ 0.01) in cecum of pigs. Therefore, bacteria (especially hydrogenotrophic bacteria) in hindgut of pigs can rapidly response to the high-level PF in the diet. The change of SCFAs proportion indicate that this variation of bacterial community may be involved in the altered microbial fermentation in the hindgut. Although the high level of dietary PF may reduce the abundance of some conditional pathogens such as Streptococcus and increase the abundance of some probiotics such as Lactobacillus, it may not be beneficial to the butyrate production in cecum of pigs.

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