Probiotics in pigs — modulation of their intestinal distribution and of their impact on health and performance

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Abstract

Two probiotics of different ecological origin, Enterococcus faecium NCIMB 10415 and Bacillus cereus var. toyoi, were chosen as model organisms. Feed for sows during gestation/lactation and for piglets pre-/postweaning was supplemented with either of these probiotics. To evaluate the effect of different starting points of E. faecium NCIMB 10415 initiations the probiotic was administered to piglets of sows, which have not received the probiotic, from birth onwards or just postweaning. Here we report the impact of these variants on probiotic distribution in the gut, on the gut microbiota, on diarrhea and on performance. Both probiotic strains were detected immediately after the start of the supplementation in feces of sows and piglets. The vertical transfer of both probiotic strains with sow feces to piglets could be demonstrated already before suckling piglets had access to the supplemented diets. Both probiotics were recovered from all intestinal segments of piglets. The dominant autochthonous colonic microbiota of young piglets as revealed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was more similar within than between treatment groups (control vs. probiotic). Both probiotics reduced the incidence of postweaning diarrhea (p < 0.05). For the E. faecium probiotic the relative magnitude of this effect was largely independent of dietary probiotic concentration or starting time of supplementation. Significant overall influence on piglet performance was observed only with the B. cereus probiotic.

Introduction

The EU-decision to ban antibiotics as feed additives has increased the pressure on farmers to rear healthy piglets. Since then, many have tried to answer this challenge with the use of probiotics in animal nutrition. By definition, a probiotic contributes to an improvement of the intestinal microbial balance and consequential beneficial effects for the host animal. According to their origin one may distinguish bacteria which naturally occur in the digestive tract, spore-forming bacteria with soil as natural habitat and yeasts, which normally grow on plant material and do not occur in the digestive tract. Therefore, it is most probable that beneficial effects differ in their underlying probiotic mechanism for each probiotic category or even probiotic strain. Monitoring intestinal growth of probiotic strains originating from the intestine itself within a community of closely related strains is virtually impossible with conventional microbiological methods. In addition, the analysis of a probiotic influence on intestinal microbial communities is a challenging task. This sums up to a lack of detailed knowledge on the probiotic influence on the complex interactions taking place inside the intestinal ecosystem as well as on the definite mode of action of each probiotic strain. At the Free University Berlin an interdisciplinary research project has been initiated in order to evaluate the effects of selected probiotic strains on microbiology, immunology, gut morphology, physiology and animal performance in swine.

Section snippets

Material and methods

During the last years we performed four independent trials using two fundamentally different probiotic strains, Enterococcus faecium NCIMB10415 and Bacillus cereus var. toyoi, whose effects were in each case compared to an unsupplemented control group (see Table 1 for trial design). Based on their particular origin and spore-forming ability their modes of action were expected to be distinct from each other. Body weight (BW) of piglets over an 8-week period, weekly feed intake per pen of weaned

Results and discussion

The probiotic bacteria are transferred from the sow to the suckling piglets before prestarter feed is available (< day 15) most likely by contact with maternal feces (Table 1). After weaning, the concentration of the B. cereus probiotic increased by one order of magnitude after weaning in trial 1 (Taras et al., 2005), while the concentration of the E. faecium probiotic was not considerably increased after intake of supplemented feed by piglets in trial 2 (Macha et al., 2004). In trial 3 high

Conclusion

The results indicate that probiotics may well be a contribution to healthy piglet rearing at least if they are used as integral part of a larger concept including management factors as well as other feed additives. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the effect seems to be strain dependent as well as influenced by so far undetermined endogenous and exogenous farm- and time-specific factors.

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    For example, some studies using E. faecium NCIMB 10415 showed that diarrhea was reduced and performance increased (Taras et al., 2006; Zeyner and Boldt, 2006; Büsing and Zeyner, 2015) whereas others did not (Broom et al., 2006; Martin et al., 2012). It was initially shown that E. faecium NCIMB 10415 could be transferred already from the mother to the piglets during the early postnatal period (Macha et al., 2004; Taras et al., 2007; Starke et al., 2013). Depending on the administration route (daily oral dose or within the feed of sows and piglets), different amounts of the probiotic strain could be recovered (Taras et al., 2007).

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    Therefore, the lack of growth promotion is not necessarily an unexpected outcome in feeding trials like ours, executed in special animal facilities with a good level of hygiene, where the housed animals are presumably subjected to a lower environmental bacterial load in comparison with those in commercial intensive rearing units. Moreover, the growth enhancing effect of probiotics probably is multi-factoring e.g. (1) being a species- or even a strain-specific property, with (2) possible linkage to the age at which the supplemented feeding actually begins (Taras et al., 2007; Gaggia et al., 2010), and (3) dependent on the length of the feeding trial as well. It has been postulated that metabolic end-products of lactobacilli (e.g. lactic acid) could lower the pH of the intestinal digesta, which in turn might attenuate the ability of intestinal pathogens to effectively colonize the gut (Gibson, 1999).

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This paper is part of the special issue entitled “Digestive Physiology in Pigs” guest edited by José Adalberto Fernández, Mette Skou Hedemann, Bent Borg Jensen, Henry Jørgensen, Knud Erik Bach Knudsen and Helle Nygaard Lærke.

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