Curing piglets from diarrhea and preparation of a healthy microbiome with Bacillus treatment for industrial animal breeding

Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 10;10(1):19476. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75207-1.

Abstract

High-throughput farming of animals for an essential purpose such as large scale health and production of hogs is a challenge for the food industry in the modern world. The problem is that the breeding of livestock for fast growth or high yields of meat is often associated with illness and microbial infection that develop under the breeding conditions. Piglet diarrhea is most common pig disease, leading to heavy mortality and thereby economic loss. We proved that chemical drugs can relieve the symptoms of diarrhea in ill piglets, but they do not treat the underlying cause, i.e. significantly altered bacterial gut flora. Using Illumina sequencing of fecal DNA, we showed that the bacterial gut flora of piglets treated with antibiotics remain close to the ill conditions. However, using Illumina sequencing of fecal DNA from piglets treated with a specific Bacillus (Bacillus subtilis Y-15, B. amyloliquefaciens DN6502 and B. licheniformis SDZD02) demonstrated the efficiency of natural bioproducts not only on curing diarrhea, but also on beneficial bacteria to re-establish in the piglet gut. We therefore propose a new natural "medicine" to be explored by the world farm animal agriculture industry, particularly for sustainable improvement of swine livestock production and health.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animal Feed / analysis
  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / administration & dosage*
  • Bacillus / metabolism
  • Bacillus / physiology*
  • Bacillus subtilis / metabolism
  • Bacillus subtilis / physiology*
  • Bacteria / classification
  • Bacteria / drug effects
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Breeding / methods
  • Diarrhea / microbiology
  • Diarrhea / therapy*
  • Feces / microbiology
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / methods
  • Microbiota / genetics
  • Probiotics / administration & dosage*
  • Probiotics / metabolism
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Swine
  • Swine Diseases / microbiology
  • Swine Diseases / therapy*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S