Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate how the gut microbiome shifts when pigs were exposed with low concentrations of mycotoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) in feed. Fifteen of pigs, 15 kg in weight which were negative for PRRSV and PCV2 were purchased, acclimatized until 20 kg in weight, and randomly divided into 3 groups; the DON group (DON treated), the ZEN group (ZEN treated) and the CTL (untreated negative control). DON and ZEN administered to each group for 30 days at 0.8 mg/kg (800 ppb) and 0.20 mg/kg (200 ppb) in feed, respectively. After extraction of microbial DNA from intestine and fecal samples, sequencing procedures were performed in the Ion PGM using an Ion 316 V2 chip and Ion PGM sequencing 400 kit. The results suggested that the bacterial communities in duodenum, jejunum and ileum of the DON and ZEN groups presented low-abundant OTUs compared with the CTL group. OTUs in cecum, colon and feces were determined more than in small intestine of all three groups. However, the CTL group yielded more OTUs than other two groups in inter-group comparison. It is not fully clarified how the richness and abundance in microbiome functions in the health condition of animals, however, the exposure to DON and ZEN has caused microbial population shifts representing microbial succession and changes following the diversity and abundance of porcine gut microbiome. The metabolomic analysis correlate with microbiome analysis is needed for further study.
