Impact of early gut microflora colonization on behaviour in pigs: Investigating the microbiota-gut-brain axis

In nature, pigs have a varied diet and are exposed to many different bacteria from early life. This results in a large variety in their gut microbiota. In a farm setting, pigs are fed standard diet and live in a "clean" environment, which leads to less variety as well as an altered balance between different types of bacteria in the gut microbiota. A more mature microbiota accelerates intestinal maturation, thereby reducing post-weaning enteric health problems in piglets.

Diet ingredient composition will have an impact on the gut and its' microbiome composition. To study the impact of early feed ingestion we gave piglets an oral supplement of pre- or probiotics. Our working hypothesis was that intestinal microbiota colonization pattern exerts long-term effects on intestinal homeostasis with impact on behaviour through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. We investigated this by documenting of the gut microbiome, cognitive tests and observations of growth, health and behaviour. In a parallel study we will also investigated the relationship between gut microbiota and tail biting behaviour. Reducing piglet diarrhoea and tail biting will not only improve pig welfare, but will contribute to a reduction in the use of antibiotics. This project was financed by Formas and Stiftelsen lantbruksforskning and a part of Centre of Excellence in Animal Welfare Science.

Publications

Verbeek, E., J. Dicksved and L. Keeling (2021). Supplementation of Lactobacillus early in life alters attention bias to threat in piglets. Scientific Reports 11(1): 10130.

Verbeek, E., L. Keeling, R. Landberg, J. E. Lindberg and J. Dicksved (2021). The gut microbiota and microbial metabolites are associated with tail biting in pigs. Scientific Reports 11(1): 20547.

Other material

The gut-brain connection: 4 ways to boost your pets gut microbiota. Blog post by Else Verbeek at "Amazing Animal Minds", 2022.