Assessment of cecal microbiota modulation from piglet dietary supplementation with copper

Two performance studies were conducted to investigate the effects of three different sources of copper (Cu) on the microbiota of piglets. A total of 256 weaned piglets were randomly allocated into 4 treatments (10 replicates per treatment of 4 piglets per pen in trial 1 and 8 replicates of 3 piglets per pen in Trial 2). Treatments included a control group (fed 10 mg/kg of Cu from CuSO4), a group fed at 160 mg/kg of CuSO4 (CuSO4) or tri-basic copper chloride (TBCC), and a group fed with Cu methionine hydroxy analogue chelated (Cu-MHAC) at 150, 80, and 50 mg/kg in Phases 1 (24-35 d), 2 (36-49 d), and 3 (50-70 d), respectively. At 70 d, the cecum luminal contents from one pig per pen were collected and polled for 16S rRNA sequencing (V3/V4 regions).