Piglet Gut Microbiome Raw sequence reads

Two replicate experiments with 64 newborn piglets each were conducted to study the effect of live yeast S. cerevisiae supplementation on the zootechnical performance and hindgut microbial profile of piglets. Piglets were divided into two groups and received either live yeast (Yeast) or sterile water (Con) by oral gavage starting from day one of age. Pigs were weaned at 25.6+1.4 days of age and one half the piglets in each treatment group started to receive a diet supplemented with yeast (Con-Yeast and Yeast-Yeast) or the same diet without supplement (Con-Con and Yeast-Con). Performance parameters were collected every week until 56 days of age when selected pigs were euthanized to collect intestinal content for microbial ecology studies. Pigs supplemented with live yeast either in the pre-weaning period (Yeast-Con) or in both the pre- and post-weaning period (Yeast-Yeast), heavier (P<0.0001) than the piglets that received sterile water during the pre-weaning period. Similarly, yeast supplementation during the pre-weaning period significantly increased average daily weight gain (P<0.0001) and feed intake (P=0.0002) in post-weaning piglets as compared to the pre-weaning control group. There was also an overall increase in FCR during the post-weaning study period (P=0.03) in pigs that received yeast supplementation during the pre-weaning period. No interaction between pre- and post-weaning yeast supplementation was observed. While alpha-diversity metrics of microbiota was not significantly different among the four different treatment groups in the post-weaning period, yeast supplementation significantly affected the microbial community structure between groups (ß-diversity) both in cecum (P=0.0018) and proximal colon (P=0.0003). Moreover, members of the phylum Firmicutes were increased with yeast supplementation and were positively correlated with ADG and FCR, while bacteria that belong to phylum Bacteroidetes were decreased with yeast supplementation and were negatively correlated with the performance parameters. Comparison of predicted microbial genes (PICRUSt) revealed several microbial metabolism pathways, including protein metabolism and amino acid synthesis that were enriched by yeast supplementation. In conclusion, pre-weaning yeast supplementation of piglets improved post-weaning performance of piglets and modified the microbial community structure in the hind gut.