Abstract
To clarify the role of intestinal microbiota on skatole production and the influences of host gender, individual fecal samples were collected from female, castrated and entire male pigs at the ages of 20, 85, and 185 days. Concentrations of skatole in feces were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and the bacterial community in the pig feces was analyzed using 454-pyrosequencing based on 16S rRNA genes. Results showed that, compared to the gilts, the phyla Firmicutes was lower in boars and barrows, and the abundance of Proteobacteria was higher in barrows. The host gender significantly affected the proportion of ten and 11 genera in total community at the ages of 85 and 185 days, respectively. Skatole concentrations in entire male pigs were higher than in gilts at 20 days. No significant differences in the feces of different-gendered pigs remained at 85 and 185 days. The fecal skatole concentrations were significantly related to the presence of some genera of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the feces, including Clostridium and Oscillibacter. This is the first study using a barcoded DNA pyrosequencing method to survey pigs’ fecal microbiota composition by gender. This gender-related microbiota correlated with the fecal concentration of indolic compounds. These results provide a new vision for pig welfare, as well as the possibility of controlling boar taints by modulating the gut microbiota instead of castration.
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This study was funded by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201003011).
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Zhou, Z., Zheng, W., Shang, W. et al. How host gender affects the bacterial community in pig feces and its correlation to skatole production. Ann Microbiol 65, 2379–2386 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1079-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1079-0