Effects of probiotics Pediococcus acidilactici strain MA18/5M and Saccharomyces cerevisiae subsp. boulardii strain SB-CNCM I-1079 on fecal and intestinal microbiota of nursing and weanling piglets

In this study, the influence of Pediococcus acidilactici (PA) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae subsp. boulardii (SCB) on fecal and intestinal microbiota of piglets during lactation and after weaning was monitored. Forty sows and their litters were used and allocated to the following dietary treatments: 1) PA, 2) SCB, 3) a mixture of the 2 probiotics (PA+SCB), 4) antibiotics (ATB), and 5) control (CTRL). Four weeks before parturition, probiotic-treated sows started receiving a daily probiotic dose of at least 2.5 × 109 cfu mixed in 500 g of feed until the end of lactation. The other groups were fed a diet without probiotics and ATB. Two days after birth, piglets received, daily, 1 × 109 cfu of the same probiotics as their mother. At weaning (d 21), these piglets were fed a basal diet enriched with the same probiotics whereas piglets from untreated litters were fed the basal diet with or without ATB. Two piglets per litter were randomly chosen to evaluate the influence of treatments on fecal microbial composition (d 10 and 28) and on ileum and colon microbiota at d 37. The microbiota was characterized by culture on selective media and by 16S rRNA gene diversity assessment using the terminal RFLP technique and clone library analysis to evaluate diversity index and phylum affiliation. Terminal RFLP profiles were also analyzed to determine differences in microbial composition between animals receiving different treatments and to identify diet-specific terminal restriction fragments (TRF) using pairwise multiresponse permutation procedures (MRPP) and indicator species analysis. Before weaning, administration of probiotics to sows and piglets had minor effect on fecal microbiota of piglets. Most modulatory effects of probiotics on ileum and colon microbiota were observed on d 37. Results revealed that PA or ATB treatments reduced ileal microbiota diversity compared with the CTRL (P < 0.05) and promoted the establishment of Firmicutes whereas SCB consumption positively influenced the establishment of the Porphyromonadaceae and Ruminococcaceae bacterial families in the colon. Moreover, pairwise MRPP analysis indicated that ileum bacterial communities of pigs treated with PA or ATB differed from those of CTRL pigs (P < 0.05). In conclusion, PA and SCB supplements, respectively, influenced, in a strain-dependent manner, the ileum and colon microbiota of weaned piglets. Results also suggest that PA and SCB have the potential as feed additives to modulate bacterial populations associated with gut health.