Intestinal microbiota in growing pigs: effects of stocking density

Abstract

This study aimed to assess oxidative stress and microbiota in pigs at different stocking densities. Markers for oxidative stress were investigated and gut bacteria identified. The pigs were randomly assigned to high-, medium-or low-density groups. The results showed that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in the high-and low-density groups were lower than in the medium-density group. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity was significantly lower in the low-density group and highest in the medium-density group. We found no discrepancies between estimators of bacterial richness across the three groups. The jejunum and ileum were mainly occupied by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria of the classes Bacilli, Clostridia, Erysipelotrichia and Gammaproteobacteria. The ceacum was mainly occupied by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes of the classes Bacteroidetes, Clostridia and Negativicutes. The results revealed that gut flora was not affected by stocking density. However, stocking density may influence oxidative stress.

Effects of rearing density on growth, digestive conditions, welfare indicators and gut bacterial community of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata, L. 1758) fed different fishmeal and fish oil dietary levels

“…In several fish species, α-diversity was not found to be affected by dietary vegetal ingredients (Apper et al, 2016;Parma et al, 2016;Rimoldi et al, 2018b), by the interaction between diet and rearing density (Wong et al, 2013) or by stocking density (Du et al, 2019). Also in pigs, stocking density did not significantly affect biodiversity indices of gut microbiota (Li et al, 2017).…”

Effects of dietary supplementation of wheat starch processing wastewater on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and immune function in sheep

“…Lactobacillus plantarum produced organic acids which combined with metallic ions to synergistically improve the antioxidant capacity (Wang et al, 2017). GSH-Px levels were lowest in the low-density group and highest in the medium-density group (Li et al, 2017). Some kinds of processing waste water have been utilized as feed stuff for ruminant, such as corn processing wastewater, corn steep liquor, due to their relatively high energy and crude protein.…”