Comparative evaluation of the fecal microbiota of adult hybrid pigs and Tibetan pigs, and dynamic changes in the fecal microbiota of hybrid pigs

Front Immunol. 2023 Dec 14:14:1329590. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1329590. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The breed of pig can affect the diversity and composition of fecal microbiota, but there is a lack of research on the fecal microbiota of hybrid pigs. In this study, feces samples from Chuanxiang black pigs (a hybrid of Tibetan and Duroc pigs) aged 3 days (n = 24), 70 days (n = 31), 10 months (n = 13) and 2 years (n = 30) and Tibetan pigs aged 10 months (n = 14) and 2 years (n = 15) were collected and sequenced by 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology. We also measured the weight of all the tested pigs and found that the 10-month-old and two-year-old Chuanxiang black pigs weighed about three times the weight of Tibetan pigs of the same age. After comparing the genus-level microbiota composition of Tibetan pigs and Chuanxiang black pigs at 10 months and two years of age, we found that Treponema and Streptococcus were the two most abundant bacteria in Chuanxiang black pigs, while Treponema and Chirstensenellaceae_R.7_group were the two most abundant bacteria in Tibetan pigs. Prediction of microbial community function in adult Chuanxiang black pigs and Tibetan pigs showed changes in nutrient absorption, disease resistance, and coarse feeding tolerance. In addition, we also studied the changes in fecal microbiota in Chuanxiang black pigs at 3 days, 70 days, 10 months, and 2 years of age. We found that the ecologically dominant bacteria in fecal microbiota of Chuanxiang black pigs changed across developmental stages. For example, the highest relative abundance of 70-day-old Chuanxiang black pigs at the genus level was Prevotella. We identified specific microbiota with high abundance at different ages for Chuanxiang black pigs, and revealed that the potential functions of these specific microbiota were related to the dominant phenotype such as fast growth rate and strong disease resistance. Our findings help to expand the understanding of the fecal microbiota of hybrid pigs and provide a reference for future breeding and management of hybrid pigs.

Keywords: Tibetan pigs; bacterial functions; fecal bacteria; growth stages; host inheritance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Disease Resistance*
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Microbiota* / genetics
  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
  • Swine
  • Tibet

Substances

  • RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by grants from the National Key R & D projects (2022YFF1000100 and 2020YFA0509500 to QT, and 2021YFD1301101 to YRG), Tianfu Agricultural Master Project to ZH, the Science & Technology Support Program of Sichuan (2023YFN0088 and 2021YFYZ0030 to YRG), the Program for Pig Industry Technology System Innovation Team of Sichuan Province (SCSZTD-2023-08 to YRG and ZH), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021ZDZX0008 to QT), and the Dual Support Plan for Discipline Construction - Special Program for The Cultivation of Outstanding Young Scholars (2022SZYQ004 to QT).