Vet Med - Czech, 2023, 68(10):392-402 | DOI: 10.17221/54/2023-VETMED

Lactobacillus sp. participated in the adaptation of Rongchang piglets to cold stressOriginal Paper

J Chai^1,2, X Long^1,2, P Wu^1,2, J Wang^1,2, X Wu^1,2, Z Tu^1,2, M Wei^1,2, Z Guo^1,2, T Zhang^1,2, L Chen^1,2

¹ Chongqing Academy of Animal Science, Chong Qing, Rongchang, P.R. China

² National Center of Technology Innovation for Pigs, Chong Qing, Rongchang, P.R. China

Rongchang piglets were easily induced to cold stress and diarrhoea in the winter when raised in an open hog house. However, they also gradually recovered under mid-cold stress. Other studies have suggested gut microbiome might be involved in the host energy metabolism to relieve stress. To study how to adapt Rongchang piglets to cold stress by gut microbiome, thirty Rongchang piglets were randomly divided into a mild cold stress group and a control group for 30 consecutive days. The findings revealed that the piglets had low growth performance and a high diarrhoea rate and mortality rate during the first half of the cold treatment, but subsequently stabilised. The level of cortisol (COR) also displayed a similar trend. In the mild cold stress group, the relative abundance of Muribaculaceae significantly increased on day 15, and the predominant bacterial on day 30 was Lactobacillus sp. Our results indicated that the Rongchang piglet’s production performance and health were impaired at the start of the mild cold stress. However, as time passed, the body could progressively adapt to the low temperature, and Lactobacillus sp. participated in this process. This study provides new insight into how to alleviate health damage caused by cold stress.

Keywords: energy metabolism; gut microbiome; low temperature; production performance

Received: May 14, 2023; Revised: September 16, 2023; Accepted: September 19, 2023; Prepublished online: October 24, 2023; Published: October 31, 2023  Show citation