Alfalfa-containing diets alter luminal microbiota structure and short chain fatty acid sensing in the caecal mucosa of pigs

Abstract

BackgroundPork produced by outdoor-reared pigs raised mostly on alfalfa pastures attracts increasing population of consumer from most of the world. In China, pigs were raised with alfalfa-containing diets to seek for good quality pork. However, the influence of dietary alfalfa involving high level of insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) on pig intestinal luminal microbiota composition remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of alfalfa on luminal microbiota and short chain fatty acids (SCFA) production, and gene expressions involved in SCFA sensing, transporting and absorbing in pig caecal mucosa.ResultsTwenty-four growing pigs were randomly allotted to four diets containing 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% alfalfa meal for a 28-d experiment. Ingestion of alfalfa meal-contained diets significantly increased the ratio of body weight gain to feed consumption. Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the V3 region of the 16S rRNA genes showed that alfalfa-containing diet significantly decreased the relative abundance of genera Turicibacter, Acidiphilium, Paracoccus, Propionibacterium, Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Staphylococcus, and increased the relative abundance of genera Lachnospira, Marvinbryantia, and Desulfovibrio in the caecal digesta. Butyrate concentration was significantly increased in the hindgut by the supplementation of alfalfa meal in diets. The mRNA gene expressions of FFAR3, SMCT1, MCT1, PYY, and GCG were significantly increased in the caecal mucosa of pigs fed alfalfa meal.ConclusionsOur results suggested that alfalfa-containing diet has exerted significant impacts on caecal microbiota composition, butyrate concentration and significantly upregulated mRNA expression of host caecal mucosal genes involved in SCFA sensing and absorption as well as regulation of satiety.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40104-017-0216-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prebiotic effects of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) fiber on cecal bacterial composition, short-chain fatty acids, and diarrhea incidence in weaning piglets

“…11 Recent studies reported that pigs grown on alfalfa pastures produce goodquality natural pork, which is currently gaining more attention in Europe and North America. 12,13 Interestingly, for the production of good quality pork, alfalfa is used as fresh fodder in some traditional style pig production systems in China 13 and other parts of the world. AF is a high-quality protein feed; therefore, increasing its supplementation may improve the nutritional requirement of pigs and increase the growth of piglets.…”

Effect of Dietary Fiber Sources on In-Vitro Fermentation and Microbiota in Monogastrics

“…Furthermore, alfalfa treatment was associated with significant Firmicutes abundance, which accounted for 89.2% sequences. Alfalfa diet has been associated with the ability to decrease the number of pathogenic bacteria and an increase in the number of bacteria that promote alfalfa fiber hydrolysis [39]. In this study, all treatments and the control showed less effect on the abundance of Prevotella, Phascolarctobacteroides, Parabacteroides, Ochrobactru, and unclassified Commenadaceae genera.…”

Effect of increasing levels of rice distillers’ by-product on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profile and colonic microbiota of weaned piglets

“…Indeed, arabinoxylan fiber, an important content of plan cell walls of rice, is considered as a prebiotic effect on intestinal health of pigs stimulating the growth of the latter bacteria genera [53,54]. Moreover, members of Lachnospiraceae family -whose proportion increased at d 35 in our experiment-was positively correlated with intestinal epithelial cell energy metabolism and butyrate production [55,56]. Ruminococcacecae spp.…”

“…Ruminococcacecae spp. also was related to butyrate production [55]. Finally, a higher abundance of Bacteroides spp., Lachnospiraceae spp., and Ruminococcacecae spp.…”