30 Offspring microflora is affected by parity and organic acid use

Abstract Abstract: Introduction Primiparous sows can differ in microbial diversity compared with mature sows. Organic acids influence gut microflora when fed directly to the pig. Impact of organic acid blends (OAB) when fed to sows of differing parities on offspring microflora is lacking. Objective Evaluate the impact of 0% or 0.3% OAB fed to young (parity 1 and 2) and adult (> parity 3) sows on offspring microflora. Methods An OAB containing 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butanoic acid was fed from 50-d of gestation through lactation. Feces was collected at lactation d-20 from 40 pigs/treatment with 2 pigs/litter sampled. Microbial DNA was extracted with 16s RNA amplification of the V3/V4 region. Results Primary effects were between 0% OAB young sows compared with adult sows and 0.3% OAB young sows. Alpha diversity (P < 0.05) and richness (P < 0.01) were greater in pigs from adult sows compared to young sows. Feeding 0.3% OAB to young sows increased diversity and richness to levels similar to that of adult sows while simultaneously repressing Anaerotignum lactatifermentans (P < 0.05) and Bacteroides uniformis (P < 0.05), two species naturally suppressed in piglets from adult sows (P < 0.05). Family Sphaerochaetaceae was higher in adult sows’ offspring and young 0.3% OAB offspring (P < 0.05) than young 0% OAB offspring and was supported by a corresponding increase in class Spirochaetia (P < 0.05) in adult sows’s offspring and 0.3% OAB young offspring. Conclusions These results indicate 0.3% OAB fed to young sows increased offspring bacterial diversity and richness and altered microbial profiles to be more similar to offspring from adult sows.