Impacts Of Piglet Age And Route Of Delivery On Ileal Lactobacillus Diversity

Lactobacilli are inhabitants of the human and porcine gastrointestinal tract. Herein, Lactobacillus diversity in piglets that were either Cesarean ‐ (CD, n = 11) or vaginally delivered (VD, n=9) was characterized. Piglets were weaned on d21 and samples obtained on d3, 14, 21 and 28. Total lactobacilli increased from d3 to 14, were stable until d21 and decreased at d28. Ten random isolates per piglet were identified by partial (499‐bp) hsp60 gene sequencing using Lactobacillus specific primers and 7 species were identified: L. johnsonii , L. thermotolerans , L. reurteri , L. amylovorus , L. delbrueckii , L. salivarius and L. vaginalis . At d3, VD and CD piglets had 3‐5 Lactobacillus species, but the composition differed between the groups. At d14 and 21, L. johnsonii dominated in both CD and VD piglets (>75%). At 28 days, L. johnsonii remained dominant with VD (91%) piglets, whereas CD piglets had both L. johnsonii (72%) and L. thermotolerans (21%). Carbohydrate utilization profiles of 200 Lactobacillus isolates demonstrated intraspecies diversity confirming that several strains may be present for each Lactobacillus species. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns (T‐RFLP) generated from ileal contents confirmed the Lactobacillus species composition identified by cultivation. Thus, piglet age and route of delivery impacts the ileal Lactobacillus community. (BMS Freedom to Discover Award). Grant Funding Source FSHN