Effect of alginate and inulin on intestinal microbial ecology of weanling pigs reared under different husbandry conditions

Abstract

The effects of inulin and alginate on intestinal microbial ecophysiology were investigated in piglets fed a diet (C) with 0.1% alginate (C+A) or 1.5% inulin (C+I) from weaning at day 28. The experiment was performed at an experimental farm (EF) and a commercial farm (CF). Digesta was collected from the ileum, caecum and colon of four piglets from each group on days 29, 30, 33 and 39. The metabolite concentrations changed with age. Colonic and caecal metabolites were affected by prebiotic treatment. Changes in microbiota composition were assessed by cultivation and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene fragments. Enterococci increased in C+A at EF and decreased in C+I at both farms. Lactobacilli decreased in all segments in the experimental groups on days 30 and 33. Yeasts in C+I were five times lower at CF than at EF on day 39. The richness and diversity of DGGE profiles increased in the experimental groups. The evenness of colon digesta-derived DGGE profiles was higher in the experimental groups than in C and this situation was reversed in the distal small intestine. Multivariate redundancy analysis confirmed the recorded effects. In summary, both prebiotics affected the intestinal microbiota, and the changes were more pronounced at the CF.

Analysis of bacterial community shifts in the gastrointestinal tract of pigs fed diets supplemented with β-glucan from Laminaria digitata, Laminaria hyperborea and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…The results from our study showed that the b-glucan exerted a similar reducing effect on coliform counts. Janczyk et al (2010) demonstrated that dietary supplementation with alginate resulted in higher enterococci counts in the distal small intestine, caecum and proximal colon of pigs, in comparison with counts obtained from animals fed inulin or a control diet. Counts of lactobacilli decreased in all GIT segments in the experimental group after the feeding period (Janczyk et al, 2010).…”

“…Janczyk et al (2010) demonstrated that dietary supplementation with alginate resulted in higher enterococci counts in the distal small intestine, caecum and proximal colon of pigs, in comparison with counts obtained from animals fed inulin or a control diet. Counts of lactobacilli decreased in all GIT segments in the experimental group after the feeding period (Janczyk et al, 2010). Although alginate is a polysaccharide derived from Phaeophyta, its chemical structure, molecular and chain conformation are different from the laminarin component, thus possessing not only different biological properties but also behaving as a substrate for different LAB phylotypes.…”

“…The consumption of feed additives may affect the microbial population dynamic within the GIT causing shifts in the specifically aforementioned populations. Research and development into biotic products has helped pave the way towards finding a successful replacement for antibiotic growth promoters during the weaning phase of pig production (Reilly et al, 2008;Gahan et al, 2009;Janczyk et al, 2010).…”

“…The consumption of feed additives may affect the microbial population dynamic within the GIT causing shifts in the specifically aforementioned populations. Research and development into biotic products has helped pave the way towards finding a successful replacement for antibiotic growth promoters during the weaning phase of pig production (Reilly et al, 2008;Gahan et al, 2009;Janczyk et al, 2010).For newly weaning piglets, the dietary supplementation of prebiotics is generally regarded as a comparatively straightforward approach to improve microbiota composition and functionality of both the small and large intestine (Bauer et al, 2006). Seaweeds are rich in polysaccharides that are resistant to digestion and adsorption in the small intestine but are completely or partially fermented in the large intestine by the microbiota present (Devillé et al, 2004;Reilly et al, 2008).…”

Numerical ecology validates a biogeographical distribution and gender-based effect on mucosa-associated bacteria along the human colon

“…Both phylogenetic microarrays (Paliy et al, 2009;Rajilic-Stojanovic et al, 2009;Kang et al, 2010) and high-throughput sequencing methods are now used more frequently to examine gut microbiome diversity, but the development of robust quantitative methods to reveal the biogeographical features of the gut microbiota is considered a 'great challenge' and 'the diversity and biogeography of the gut microbiota needs to be defined at varying scales of resolution' (Peterson et al, 2008). Although some clustering and ordination methods of numerical ecology are commonly used to compare microbial community profiles through open source software (for example, QIIME (Caporaso et al, 2010)), and increasingly used in gut microbiomics research (Fuentes et al, 2008;Biagi et al, 2010;Janczyk et al, 2010), we contend that, in addition to those methods, there are additional useful numerical ecology methods that can be used. For instance, constrained ordination methods are being increasingly used for the analysis of mammalian gene expression (Culhane et al, 2002;Baty et al, 2006Baty et al, , 2008 and of the microbial communities present in terrestrial and aquatic samples (see Ramette (2007) for a recent review).…”