XII - 12th International Symposium - Digestive Physiology of Pigs

Digestive
Physiology
of Pigs
Lachno (13%). On d 42 PoW as Streptococcaceae (25%)
were most abundant. Shifts were seen in UniFrac analysis
as communities clustered by day. Core OTU were selected
if present in 66% of pigs/P for PrW pigs and D. Individual
OTU with significant P × day interactions were aligned with
most related type strains. Pigs on d 7 and 14 (PrW) had
more core variation within individual populations compared
with D (P < 0.01). Parity affected (P = 0.02) species richness
as P1 D and pigs were more diverse than P3 D and pigs.
Also, D had greater diversity than pigs on d 7 and 14 PrW.
Two strains of B. boum were greater in P1 pigs than all D
and pigs. Parity 3 D had greater C. baratii than P1 D and
pigs from both P. More unclassified Lactobacillus species
were found in P1 pigs on d 7 than P1 pigs on d 14, P3
pigs at all time points and D of both P. Dam parity had a
limited effect on microbiota, but knowledge of gut microbial
establishment may lead to understanding of host-microbial
interactions in health and disease.
Key words: gut microbiota, microbial establishment, parity
1003 eGF-expressing Lactococcus lactis enhances
growth performance of early-weaned pigs fed diets
devoid of blood plasma. A. Bedford* 1 , Z. Li 2 , M. Li 2 , S.
Ji 2 , C. F. M. de Lange 1 , and J. Li 1 , 1 Department of Animal
and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario,
Canada, 2 INVE, Shenzhen, China.
Stress and incomplete gastrointestinal development in
early-weaned pigs represent significant challenges in
commercial pork production. Largely because of food
safety concerns, there is a trend to limit animal-derived
ingredients in pig feeds. Therefore, alternative methods
should be developed to stimulate intestinal development
and provide disease resistance. Previously we have shown
that feeding early-weaned piglets Lactococcus lactis that
was engineered to express epidermal growth factor (EGF-
LL) improves mean villous height in the intestine. In this
study, we examined the effect of supplementing EGF-LL to
early-weaned pigs that were fed diets with typical levels of
blood plasma (5%; high complexity) or diets without blood
plasma (blood plasma was substituted with soybean meal
and fish meal, based on amino acid supply; low complexity).
A total of 108 newly weaned piglets (19–26 d of age, mean
BW 6.58 kg; 9 pigs per pen) were fed ad libitim according
to a 2-phase feeding program without growth promoters.
Three pens were assigned to each of 4 treatments: 1)
high complexity diet with blank bacterial growth medium
(HiCon), 2) high complexity diet with fermented EGF-LL
(HiEGF), 3) low complexity diet with blank bacterial growth
medium (LoCon), and 4) low complexity diet with fermented
EGF-LL (LoEGF). The amount of EGF was determined in
the fermentation product and pigs were allotted 60 ug EGF/
kg/d during the first 3 weeks post-weaning. There were
no differences (P > 0.10) in growth performance between
HiCon and HiEGF pigs and no differences (P > 0.10) in
total growth performance between HiCon and HiEGF pigs.
LoEGF pigs showed increased daily body weight gain
(410 vs. 260 g/d; P < 0.01) and Gain:Feed (0.67 vs 0.58;
P < 0.05) compared with LoCon pigs in the third week of
treatment; this was comparable to the HiCon group (400
g/d and 0.64). These results indicated that supplementation
XII INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
DIGESTIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF PIGS
39
Session I
with EGF-LL can be effective in enhancing the performance
of early-weaned piglets fed a low complexity diet, and
reduces the need for feeding high-quality animal proteins
and antibiotics.
Key words: epidermal growth factor, probiotics, growth
performance
1004 An Escherichia coli F18 challenge model in newborn
pigs. M. L. Jensen, M. S. Cilieborg,* M. V. Østergaard,
S. B. Bering, and P. T. Sangild, Department of Human Nutrition,
University of Copenhagen, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C,
Denmark.
Escherichia coli F18 is a common porcine enteric pathogen
causing diarrhea and edema in weaned pigs. An essential
step in the pathogenesis of enteric colibacillosis is fimbriareceptor
interaction facilitating colonization of the small
intestine. Studies indicate that the FUT1 enzyme, required
for F18 epithelial receptor binding, is not active until
weaning at 3–5 weeks. This could be due to age effects
or change of diet from milk to solid food. We hypothesized
that artificially-reared piglets, deprived of sow’s milk,
would show neonatal F18 susceptibility in age-dependent
manner. Initially, we verified the intestinal expression of
FUT1 in preterm, term and weaned pigs by qPCR. Then
age-related F18 susceptibility was evaluated in 3, 10 and
20 d-old pigs after inoculation of 1010 cfu of Escherichia
coli F18 for 12 d and compared with unchallenged control
animals (each n = 4). All pigs were fed with a milk replacer
and scores of diarrhea was monitored twice daily. Finally,
F18 susceptibility was evaluated in caesarean-derived 0 to
7 d-old piglets inoculated daily with F18 as above (n = 8).
For all piglets, their sows were genotyped to ensure that
all piglets would express the FUT1 enzyme. Expression
of FUT1 was detected in the proximal and distal intestine
with no apparent differences in levels among preterm,
term, and weaned pigs. No consistent differences were
found in the prevalence of diarrhea among 3 to 20 d-old
pigs, except that there was a tendency (P < 0.15) to more
days of F18-induced diarrhea, in the 3 d-old pigs compared
with 10 and 20 d-old (17, 0, 8% respectively). In contrast,
the newborn caesarean-delivered pigs, showed a high
prevalence of diarrhea of 51% for the F18 inoculated piglets
vs. 22% for the control piglets (P < 0.001). We conclude
that caesarean-delivered piglets deprived of sow’s milk
are highly susceptible to diarrhea induced by E. coli F18.
Lack of the protective effects of birth colonization and sow’s
milk may explain the high sensitivity. The newborn pig may
be used as a model to investigate the factors in milk that
protect against F18 diarrhea.
Key words: FUT1, E. coli, intestine
1005 Dietary zinc oxide leads to short- and long term
modifications in the intestinal microbiota of piglets. I.
Starke,* W. Vahjen, and J. Zentek, Institute of Animal Nutrition,
Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Zinc oxide is used as feed additive in piglets with well
documented effects on performance and animal health. A