Faecal Microbiota Analysis of Piglets During Lactation

Abstract

Antimicrobial use in animals and the potential development of antimicrobial resistance is a global concern. So, non-antimicrobial techniques for animal disease control are needed. This study aimed to determine whether neonatal ceftiofur (CF) treatment affects piglet faecal microbiomes and whether faecal microbiome transplantation (FMT) can correct it. Two focal piglets per sow were assigned to treatments as follows: cffresh (n = 6) received CF (3 mg/kg intramuscular) at 7 d and fresh FMT at 13 d; cffrozen (n = 7) received CF at 7 d and frozen FMT at 13 d; CF (n = 8) received CF at 7 d and no FMT; and no CF (n = 5) received no CF or FMT. DNA was extracted from faecal samples collected on days 7, 13, and 18 for 16S rRNA amplicon analysis. All faecal blends used for the FMT consisted of pooled donor pig faeces at 1:2 ratio with saline, delivered orally at 3 mL/kg. Alpha and beta diversity metrics increased with age (p < 0.05). However, no effect of antibiotic or FMT treatment was evident in 13 and 18 d old piglets (p > 0.05). Although no effect of treatment was observed, information regarding microbial membership during lactation was gained.

Keywords: antibiotic; bacteria; ceftiofur; diversity; faecal microbiome transplantation.

Figure 1

Non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination of faecal bacterial genera from piglets at 7 (inverted triangle), 13 (circle), and 18 (square) days of age along with donor piglets (diamond). All nMDS ordinations attempt to place all samples in an arbitrary two-dimensional space such that their relative distances apart match the corresponding pairwise similarities. Hence, the closer the two samples are in the ordination, the more similar their overall bacterial communities. “Stress” values (Kruskal’s formula 1) reflect the difficulty involved in compressing the sample relationship into the two-dimensional ordination.

Figure 2

Comparison of bacterial Pielou’s Evenness (A), Number of taxa (B) and Shannon Diversity (C) between piglets at age 7, 13, and 18 days at genus level. Subscripts of differing letters are significantly different from one another (P < 0.05).

Figure 2

Comparison of bacterial Pielou’s Evenness (A), Number of taxa (B) and Shannon Diversity (C) between piglets at age 7, 13, and 18 days at genus level. Subscripts of differing letters are significantly different from one another (P < 0.05).

Figure 3

Pie charts of faecal bacteria phyla present at 7 (A), 13 (B), and 18 (C) days of age.

Figure 3

Pie charts of faecal bacteria phyla present at 7 (A), 13 (B), and 18 (C) days of age.

Figure 4

Principal coordinate analysis (PCO) ordination of faecal bacterial families from piglets at 7 (inverted triangle), 13 (circle), and 18 (square) days of age. Overlaid onto the PCO are vectors of the subset of 24 taxa identified by the BVSTEP procedure (Rho = 0.951, P = 0.001) to best represent the overall community pattern from the full set of 81 identified families. Vectors indicate the association of the families with a particular diet. * Uncharacterised family.