Lactation-related dynamics of bacterial and fungal microbiomes in feces of sows and gut colonization in suckling and newly weaned piglets

Changes in the gut microbial composition of the sow during lactation may influence the gut microbial colonization in their offspring, for which less information was available in the literature. This study aimed to assess: 1) the changes that occur in the bacterial and fungal communities in sow feces during the 28-d lactation period as well as in gastric and cecal digesta of piglets until one week after weaning, and 2) bacterial and fungal taxa in cecal digesta of the piglets postweaning that associate with fecal consistency. Aside from sow milk, piglets had access to creep feed from day of life (DoL) 3. Fecal samples from sows for microbial analysis were collected (n = 20) on days postpartum (DPP) 1, 6, 13, 20, and 27, as well as from weaned piglets for fecal scoring on DoL 30 and 34. Gastric and cecal digesta of piglets was collected on DoL3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 31, and 35 (n = 5/sex/DoL). Progressing lactation affected bacterial and fungal communities in sow feces, including 10.3- and 3.0-fold increases in the relative abundances of Lactobacillus from DPP1 to 6 and Kazachstania from DPP1 to 13, respectively (P