Bacillus licheniformis- Fermented Products Reduce Diarrhea Incidence and Alter the Fecal Microbiota Community in Weaning Piglets

De-Yu Hung; Yeong-Hsiang Cheng; Wei-Jung Chen; Kuo-Feng Hua; Arkadiusz Pietruszka; Andrzej Dybus; Chuan-Shun Lin; Yu-Hsiang Yu

doi:10.3390/ani9121145

Bacillus licheniformis- Fermented Products Reduce Diarrhea Incidence and Alter the Fecal Microbiota Community in Weaning Piglets

Animals (Basel). 2019 Dec 13;9(12):1145. doi: 10.3390/ani9121145.

Authors

De-Yu Hung¹, Yeong-Hsiang Cheng¹, Wei-Jung Chen¹, Kuo-Feng Hua¹, Arkadiusz Pietruszka², Andrzej Dybus³, Chuan-Shun Lin⁴, Yu-Hsiang Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology and Animal Science, National Ilan University, Yilan 26047, Taiwan.
² Department of Monogastric Animal Sciences, West Pomeranian University of Technology, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland.
³ Department of Genetics, West Pomeranian University of Technology, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland.
⁴ Animal Technology Laboratories, Agricultural Technology Research Institute, Miaoli 350-53, Taiwan.

Abstract

Prophylactic use of antibiotics in-feed has been effective in decreasing the incidence of diarrhea in weaning piglets. However, the overuse of antibiotics as prophylactic or therapeutic agents in animal feed leads to the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria and antibiotic residues in pigs. This study investigated the effects of Bacillus licheniformis-fermented products on diarrhea incidence and the fecal microbial community in weaning piglets. A total of 120 crossbred piglets with an average initial body weight of 9.87 ± 1.43 kg were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments consisting of three replicate stalls with 10 piglets in each. The dietary treatments comprised a basal diet as control, control plus 1 g/kg or 4.5 g/kg of B. licheniformis-fermented products, and control plus 30 mg/kg antibiotics (bacitracin methylene disalicylate). Results showed that 4.5 g/kg of B. licheniformis-fermented product supplementation significantly reduced diarrhea incidence in weaning piglets. Principal coordinate analysis and a heatmap of species abundance indicated distinct clusters between the groups treated with antibiotics and B. licheniformis-fermented products. The bacterial richness and evenness in the feces decreased in weaning piglets fed 1 g/kg of B. licheniformis-fermented products and antibiotics. The abundance of the genera [Ruminococcus] gauvreauii group, Ruminococcaceae UCG-005, and Ruminococcaceae UCG-008 in the feces decreased in weaning piglets fed B. licheniformis-fermented products or antibiotics. The average abundance of the genus Prevotella 9 in the feces was positively correlated with the concentration of B. licheniformis-fermented products and negatively correlated with the diarrhea incidence in weaning piglets. Furthermore, the average abundance of the genus Prevotella 9 in the feces was positively correlated with the growth performance of weaning piglets. These results demonstrate that B. licheniformis-fermented products can improve diarrhea incidence and fecal microflora composition in weaning piglets.

Keywords: Bacillus licheniformis; diarrhea; fermented product; microbiota; piglet.

Abstract

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