Effect of supplementing sows and piglets with Bacillus spp. under E. coli challenge

Probiotics have been used in sow diets for their beneficial effects on their well-being, health promotion, and reproductive performance.

Method: This study aimed to analyze the effect of a probiotic mixture (Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis) on both sow and offspring performance. The first experiment was conducted from the 100th day of gestation through to post-weaning. A total of twenty sows and their litters were assigned to one of two dietary treatments, control based diet or the control diet plus 0.05% probiotic mixture. In the second experiment, an E. coli challenge study was carried out two weeks after weaning with 40 piglets. Dietary treatments remained the same while all pigs were orally administered with a 1.5 ml suspension of 10¹⁰ CFU/ml of K88 strain of E. coli.

Results: The probiotic group sows showed significantly decreased backfat thickness difference and body weight difference after farrowing and at the end of weaning day 21. The nutrient digestibility of the probiotic group sows was significantly higher at the end of weaning. Moreover, piglets born from probiotic group sows showed higher weaning weights and tended to increase average daily gain at the end of day 21. The addition of mixed probiotics in the sow and weaner diet suppressed the production of TNF-α and interleukin-6 in E. coli challenged pigs. The phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes in E. coli -challenged pigs were highly abundant while the relative abundance of clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 at the genus level was significantly reduced by the inclusion of probiotic in both the sow and weaner diet. Also, taxonomic distribution analysis showed significantly lower prevalence of Clostridium and Brachyspira and higher prevalence of Lactobacilli in E. coli-challenged pigs that were born from probiotic group sows and fed control and probiotic weaner diet.

Conclusion: This study reveals that the inclusion of 0.05% mixed probiotics (Bacillus spp.) in the sow and their progenies may improve post-weaning growth rate, gut health, and immune status of E. coli challenged pigs.

Sampath V, Cho S, Jeong J, Mun S, Lee CH, Hermes RG, Taechavasonyoo A, Smeets N, Kirwan S, Han K, Kim IH. Dietary Bacillus spp. supplementation to both sow and progenies improved post-weaning growth rate, gut function, and reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokine production in weaners challenged with Escherichia coli K88. Animal Microbiome. 2024; 6: 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-024-00290-y