Characterization of bacterial microbiota diversity in Tibetan pigs fed with green forage in Linzhi of the Tibet autonomous region

Abstract

The acute shortage of forage resources is a serious problem for Tibetan pigs in the Tibet region, andthe composition of feed can change the structure of the intestinal flora. This study first reported the effectof Alfalfa and Chenopodium glaucum feeding on the microbial diversity in Tibetan pigs, contributingto the forage exploitation of Tibetan pigs in the Tibet region. Results showed that the replacement ofconcentrate by green forage did not affect the feed intake of THE pigs. The daily weight gain of pigsfed with 45% green forage was significantly lower (p<0.05), whereas it remained unchanged for theother groups. A total of 483,570 high-quality sequences were obtained from 12 fecal samples. The alphadiversity index revealed no variation in the evenness of community, but a significant difference wasfound in the richness of community among the feeding groups. Principal component analysis showedan obvious alteration among the principal components of the microbial community structure in thedifferent feeding groups. At the phylum and genus levels, 6 phyla and 16 genera differed among thefour groups (p<0.05) but did not include the harmful bacteria. The intestinal microbiota of Tibetan pigsmainly involved 12 metabolic functions, among which, the mean proportion of amino acid metabolismand biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites were higher in the experimental groups. Although thestructure of intestinal microflora changed, harmful bacteria in the pigs did not increase when they werefed with Alfalfa and C. glaucum. These findings indicated that alfalfa and C. glaucum could be used asforage grass for Tibetan pigs.