Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Breeding Pig, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, PR China.
Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Breeding Pig, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, PR China; Shanghai Animal Disease Control Center, Shanghai, PR China.
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2019 Jun 1;277:141-147. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.04.006. Epub 2019 Apr 2.
The beneficial effects of dietary fiber on the reproductive performance and welfare of sows have been discussed broadly, but few researches examined the causal changes and the association of gut microbiota and the steroid hormones, the main regulators of reproductive function. To shed light on this, thirty-six Meishan sows were allocated into 2.5% crude fiber (CF) group and 7.5% CF group respectively for an entire farrowing interval. On the 90th day of gestation, the saliva and fresh stool of sows were individually collected in the morning (06:00-07:00) for steroid hormones, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and microbiome analysis. In addition, the parameter of pregnant behavioral and farrowing performance was recorded and evaluated. We observed that, as compared with the 2.5% CF treatment, 7.5% CF significantly increased the litter size (p = 0.01), reduced the stereotypic behaviors including sham chewing, rolling tongue and licking ground (p = 0.02, 0.04, 0.01) at later gestation stage, but increased lying time (p = 0.00). In coincide with this, 7.5% CF diet increased the salivary progesterone (p = 0.00), fecal estradiol and progesterone (p = 0.01, 0.02) level, fecal water and SCFAs content (p = 0.02, 0.03), decreased the salivary and fecal cortisol (p = 0.01, 0.00) level. Further, 7.5% CF diet increased the fecal microbiota richness (ACE, p = 0.04; Chao, p = 0.07) and diversity (Shannon, p = 0.01; Simpson, p = 0.04), the proportion of genus Ruminococcus, Butyrivibrio, Lactobacillus and Fibrobacter (p = 0.02, 0.05, 0.04, 0.00), whereas reduced the proportion of genus Clostridium, Streptococcus, Bacteroides and Escherichia-Shigella (p = 0.00, 0.00, 0.04, 0.04). These results indicate that, fibrous diet can regulate the steroid hormones secretion and modulate the gut with more cellulose-degrading and probiotic bacterium, but less opportunistic pathogens, and this may contribute to the improvement of reproductive performance and welfare in sows.
膳食纤维对母猪繁殖性能和福利的有益影响已被广泛讨论，但很少有研究检测肠道微生物群和类固醇激素之间的因果变化和关联，而类固醇激素是生殖功能的主要调节剂。为了阐明这一点，将 36 头梅山母猪分别分配到 2.5%粗饲料 (CF) 组和 7.5% CF 组，用于整个分娩间隔。在妊娠第 90 天，分别于早上（06:00-07:00）采集母猪的唾液和新鲜粪便，用于检测类固醇激素、短链脂肪酸 (SCFA) 和微生物组分析。此外，还记录和评估了妊娠行为和分娩性能的参数。结果表明，与 2.5% CF 处理相比，7.5% CF 显著增加了窝产仔数（p=0.01），减少了后期妊娠阶段的刻板行为，包括假咀嚼、卷舌和舔地（p=0.02、0.04、0.01），但增加了躺卧时间（p=0.00）。与此同时，7.5% CF 日粮增加了唾液孕酮（p=0.00）、粪便雌二醇和孕酮（p=0.01、0.02）水平、粪便水分和 SCFA 含量（p=0.02、0.03），降低了唾液和粪便皮质醇（p=0.01、0.00）水平。此外，7.5% CF 日粮增加了粪便微生物丰富度（ACE，p=0.04；Chao，p=0.07）和多样性（Shannon，p=0.01；Simpson，p=0.04），增加了瘤胃球菌属、丁酸弧菌属、乳酸杆菌属和纤维杆菌属的比例（p=0.02、0.05、0.04、0.00），降低了梭菌属、链球菌属、拟杆菌属和埃希氏-志贺氏菌属的比例（p=0.00、0.00、0.04、0.04）。这些结果表明，纤维日粮可以调节类固醇激素的分泌，并通过增加更多的纤维素降解菌和益生菌，同时减少机会性病原体，从而改善母猪的繁殖性能和福利。
