454-amplicon pyrosequencing of porcine faecal microbiota over a 16 day period reveal that complex diets, specifically containing dietary fibre, promote a more diverse faecal bacterial community.

Cereal soluble dietary fibres in the form of arabinoxylan and mixed-linkage glucans were fed to pigs to examine the resulting changes to the bacterial community profiles and the rate at which these changes occur. The microbial assemblage was sequenced and characterised using 454 amplicon pyrosequencing over a period of 17 days for each diet. Results obtained suggested that the microbial assemblage rapidly changed within 2 days when the experimental diets were introduced, but did not stabilize within the timeframe of the experiment. Also, the bacterial community profiles associated with each diet suggests that a more complex diet in terms of both chemical structure and range of substrate components favours a greater bacterial diversity. Furthermore, diets that are more limited in their complexity may drive bacterial profiles to converge.