Effects of feeding finisher pigs with chicory or lupine feed for one week or two weeks before slaughter with respect to levels of Bifidobacteria and Campylobacter

Abstract

<jats:p>This study aimed to assess whether inclusion of chicory or lupine (prebiotics) in the diet of pre-slaughter pigs for just 1 or 2 weeks could change the composition of their intestinal microbiota, stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria and help to lower the amount of thermoplilic<jats:italic>Campylobacter</jats:italic>spp. (mainly<jats:italic>Campylobacter jejuni</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Campylobacter coli</jats:italic>), which are a major cause of food-borne infections in humans. A total of 48 pigs that had an initial live weight of 90 kg were fed with either a lupine (organic concentrate with 25% blue lupine seeds), chicory (organic concentrate with 10% dried chicory roots) or control (100% organic concentrate) diet for 1 week (24 pigs) or 2 weeks (24 pigs) before slaughter. The<jats:italic>Campylobacter</jats:italic>spp. level in rectal faecal samples after 0, 1 and 2 weeks of feeding and in the luminal content from ileum, caecum and colon at slaughter was determined by direct plating on modified charcoal-cefoperazone-deoxycholate agar plates. DNA extracted from the luminal content of distal ileum and caecum was used for terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the composition of intestinal microbiota and for measuring the amount of bifidobacterial and total bacterial DNA by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR).<jats:italic>Campylobacter</jats:italic>spp. were excreted by all pigs and present in the luminal content from distal ileum to midway colon with particularly high numbers in the caecum, but the excretion was reduced by 10-fold in pigs fed lupines for 1 week as compared with control- and chicory-fed pigs (mean log<jats:sub>10</jats:sub>2.9<jats:italic>v</jats:italic>. 4.1 CFU/g;<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.05). The qPCR analysis showed that feeding with lupines resulted in higher levels of bifidobacteria in caecum as compared with the other diets (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.05). T-RFLP analysis showed that four of the most abundant bacteria with terminal restriction fragment values &gt;5% relative to the intensity of total abundance differed between the feed treatments (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.05). Therefore, this study showed that even a short-term alternative feeding strategy with prebiotics in the diet of pre-slaughter pigs elicited changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiota, where lupine increased the level of bifidobacteria in caecum and reduced the<jats:italic>Campylobacter</jats:italic>spp. excretion level after 1 week.</jats:p>

Resistance to change: AMR gene dynamics on a commercial pig farm with high antimicrobial usage

“…Although microbiome diversity increased dramatically in the piglets during the first few weeks of life, as reflected in previous studies 47,[50][51][52][53] , this was not associated with changes in AMR gene prevalence. We expected, as others have proposed, that changes in the microbiota would influence AMR gene levels 20,44,54 , but in fact the high levels of studied AMR genes in the young pigs reflected that of the farm's sow population. The most obvious explanation for this is a combination of vertical and horizontal transmission of bacteria at or shortly after birth 55,56 .…”

“…A previous cross-sectional study highlighted that only 10-42% of the variation in AMR gene levels could be explained by factors included in statistical models (including lifetime antimicrobial exposure), suggesting that AMR gene levels are strongly influenced by a variety of other elements 43 . Whilst these could be related to feed changes, the fact that the dry sows and young pigs were housed differently and fed different diets 44 would suggest that this effect is due to some other factors affecting the entire farm, such as housing and management 35,45,46 , environmental conditions 46 or the introduction of an infectious agent.…”

Resistance to change? The impact of group medication on AMR gene dynamics during commercial pig production

“…Although microbiome diversity increased dramatically in the piglets during the first few weeks of life, as reflected in previous studies (69, 72–75), this was not associated with changes in AMR gene prevalence. We expected, as others have proposed, that changes in the microbiota would influence AMR gene levels (27, 66, 76), but in fact the high levels of studied AMR genes in the young piglets reflected that of the sows. The most obvious explanation for this is a combination of vertical and horizontal transmission of bacteria at or shortly after birth (31, 77).…”

“…A previous cross-sectional study highlighted that only 10-42% of the variation in AMR gene levels could be explained by factors included in statistical models (including lifetime antimicrobial exposure), suggesting that AMR gene levels are strongly influenced by a variety of other elements (16). Whilst these could be related to feed changes, the fact that the sows and piglets were housed differently and fed different diets (66) would suggest that this effect is due to some other factors affecting the entire farm, such as housing and management (62, 67, 68), ambient temperature (68) and/or humidity, changes in water supply or the introduction of an infectious agent.…”

Lupin as a perspective protein plant for animal and human nutrition – a review

“…Effects of feeding finisher pigs with chicory or lupin feed for one week or two weeks before slaughter with respect to levels of Bifidobacteria and Campylobacter were studied by Jensen et al (2013). This study showed that even a short-term alternative feeding strategy with probiotics in the diet of pre-slaughter pigs elicited changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiota, where lupin increased the level of bifidobacteria in the caecum and reduced the Campylobacter spp.…”