Bacterial profiles of the oral, vaginal, and rectal mucosa and colostrum of periparturient sows

Abstract

AbstractThe commensal microbiota influences the health, feeding efficiency, and reproductive performance of sows. The microbiota composition in the alimentary and genitourinary tracts and in colostrum/milk during pregnancy and lactation also impacts the developing microbiota and immune system of the piglets and subsequently their growth and health. Knowledge of the microbial compositions is important for evaluation of these effects and for discovering ways to improve the health and productivity of the sows.Oral, vaginal, and rectal mucosa were sampled from 32 sows of variable parity in late pregnancy on four commercial piglet-producing farms in Finland. Colostrum samples were taken within 6 hours of delivery of the first piglet. Microbial compositions were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Moderate differences in diversity and composition were observed between farms. The most abundant genera of the oral microbiota wereRothia,Moraxella, andStreptococcus.The rectal microbiota was dominated byClostridium sensu stricto 1. Streptococcuswas the most abundant genus in the vagina and colostrum. Differences in relative abundances of genera were detected between primiparous and multiparous sows. Some of these differences were detected across all the farms; in the multiparous sows, the relative abundances ofFusobacteriumandNeisseriawere lower in oral samples.Clostridium sensu stricto 1,Romboutsia, andLachnospiraceae_UCG_007were higher andPrevotellalower in rectal samples, andStreptococcushigher in colostrum samples. In vaginal samples, approximately half of the multiparous sows had significantly higher relative abundances of the generaFusobacteriumandStreptococcusthan the primiparous sows. Among the differentially abundant taxa,F. necrophorumandF. nucleatumwere identified in oral samples,Fusobacterium gastrosuisandFusobacterium necrophorumin vaginal samples, andStreptococcus dysgalactiaein colostrum samples. Most of the differences were due to unidentified species within the respective genus.This study provides a comprehensive overview of the mucosal and colostrum microbiota of periparturient sows during normal production conditions on Finnish commercial farms, including potentially interesting differences in the relative abundances of several genera at different mucosal sites between sows of low and high parity.