Growing Tibetan Pigs Adapt to High-Fiber Diets by Enhancing Fiber Degradation Capacity

The systematic analysis of the synergistic mechanism between microbial fiber-degrading enzymes and short-chain fatty acids under high-fiber diet conditions is limited. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a high-fiber diet on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood and serum metrics, cellulase/hemicellulase activity, and fecal microbial composition of growing Tibetan pigs. Forty Tibetan pigs were allocated to a control group (CON, the diet contains 5% crude fiber) or a high-fiber group (HF, the diet contains 10% crude fiber) based on crude fiber levels as a blocking factor. The pre-trial period was 7 d, and the formal trial lasted 28 d. CON group and HF group showed no effect on growth performance and nutrient apparent digestibility (<i>p</i> > 0.05). The HF group showed significantly higher fecal cellulase and hemicellulase activities than those of the CON group (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Additionally, the HF group showed significantly elevated levels of acetic, propionic, and butyric acids, as well as increased relative abundances of <i>Fibrobacter</i> and <i>p-75-a5</i> in the feces (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The correlation analysis revealed that <i>Fibrobacter</i> exhibited significant positive correlations with acetic acid, butyric acid, cellulase, and hemicellulase, whereas <i>p-75-a5</i> was significantly positively correlated with hemicellulase (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In conclusion, this study provides strong evidence that the efficient utilization of dietary fiber by Tibetan pigs results from highly specialized microbial mechanisms in their large intestine, as reflected by their fecal microbiota composition. <i>Fibrobacter</i> and <i>p-75-a5</i> play a crucial role in enabling these pigs to utilize fiber effectively. Certain specific microbiota secrete a greater quantity of enzymes to facilitate the decomposition of dietary fiber, and this process ultimately leads to the generation of more metabolites.