While feed efficiency (FE) is a trait of great economic importance to the pig industry, the influence of the intestinal microbiome in determining FE is not well understood. The objective of this experiment was to determine the relative influence of FE and farm of birth on the pig colonic microbiome. Animals divergent in residual feed intake (RFI) were sourced from two geographically distinct locations (farms A + B) in Ireland. The 8 most efficient (low RFI (LRFI)) and 8 least efficient (high RFI, (HRFI)) pigs from farm A and 12 LRFI and 12 HRFI pigs from farm B were sacrificed. Colonic digesta was collected for microbial analysis using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and also for volatile fatty acid analysis. The α-diversity differed between the farms in this study, with pigs from farm A having greater diversity based on Shannon and InvSimpson measures compared to pigs from farm B (P < 0.05), with no difference identified in either Chao1 or observed measures of diversity (P > 0.05). In the analysis of β-diversity, pigs clustered based on farm of birth rather than RFI. Variation in the management of piglets, weight of the piglets, season of the year, sanitary status and dam dietary influence could potentially be causative factors in this large variation between farms. However, despite significant variation in the microbial profile between farms, consistent taxonomic differences were identified between RFI groups. Within the phylum Bacteroidetes, the LRFI pigs had increased abundance of BS11 (P < 0.05) and a tendency toward increased Bacteroidaceae (P < 0.10) relative to the HRFI group. At genus level, the LRFI pigs had increased abundance of Colinsella (P < 0.05), a tendency toward increased Bacteroides and CF231 (P < 0.10). At species level, Ruminococcus flavefaciens had increased abundance in the LRFI compared to the HRFI animals. In conclusion, while farm of birth has a substantial influence on microbial diversity in the pig colon, a microbial signature indicative of FE status was apparent.

尽管饲料效率（FE）对养猪业具有重要的经济意义，但肠道微生物组对确定FE的影响尚不十分清楚。本实验的目的是确定FE和出生农场对猪结肠微生物组的相对影响。剩余饲料摄入量（RFI）不同的动物来自爱尔兰两个地理位置不同的地点（农场A + B）。处死了来自猪场A的8头效率最高（低RFI（LRFI））和8架效率最低（高RFI（HRFI））猪和来自B场的12头LRFI和12 HRFI猪。收集结肠消化物，以使用16S核糖体RNA基因测序进行微生物分析，还用于挥发性脂肪酸分析。该α多样性在本研究中的农场之间存在差异，基于Shannon和InvSimpson测度，A场的猪比B场的猪具有更大的多样性（P <0.05），在Chao1或观察到的多样性测度中均无差异（P > 0.05）。在对β多样性的分析中，猪是根据出生农场而不是RFI进行聚类的。仔猪管理，仔猪体重，一年中的季节，卫生状况和大坝饮食影响的变化可能是这种农场之间较大差异的诱因。然而，尽管农场之间的微生物特征差异很大，但在RFI组之间仍发现了一致的分类学差异。在拟杆菌门内，LRFI猪的丰度增加了。BS11（P <0.05）和相对于HRFI组有增加的拟杆菌科（P <0.10）的趋势。在属水平上，LRFI猪的Collinsella丰度增加（P <0.05），有拟杆菌和CF231含量增加的趋势（P <0.10）。在物种水平上，与HRFI动物相比，LRFI中的黄褐球菌的丰度增加。总之，虽然出生农场对猪结肠中的微生物多样性有很大影响，但指示FE状态的微生物特征却很明显。