2026-04-18T04:43:30Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12327/33282025-10-22T11:34:32Zcom_2072_4428com_2072_4427col_2072_487898

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Clavell Sansalvador, Adrià author Río López, Raquel author González-Rodríguez, Olga author García-Gil, L. Jesús author Xifró, Xavier author Zigovski, Gustavo author Ochoteco Asensio, Juan author Ballester Devis, Maria author DALMAU, ANTONI author Ramayo-Caldas, Yuliaxis author 2024-09-18 Stress significantly affects the health, welfare, and productivity of farm animals. We performed a longitudinal study to evaluate stress’s effects on pig performance, feeding behavior, and fecal microbiota composition. This study involved 64 Duroc pigs during the fattening period, divided into two experimental groups: a stress group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 32). Stressed groups had less space and were mixed twice during the experiment. We monitored body weight, feed efficiency, feeding behavior, and fecal microbiota composition. Compared to the control group, the stressed pigs exhibited reduced body weight, feed efficiency, fewer feeder visits, and longer meal durations. In the fecal microbiota, resilience was observed, with greater differences between groups when sampling was closer to the stressful stimulus. Stressed pigs showed an increase in opportunistic bacteria, such as Streptococcus, Treponema and members of the Erysipelotrichaceae family, while control pigs had more butyrate- and propionate-producing genera like Anaerobutyricum, Coprococcus and HUN007. Our findings confirm that prolonged stress negatively impacts porcine welfare, behavior, and performance, and alters their gut microbiota. Specific microorganisms identified could serve as non-invasive biomarkers for stress, potentially informing both animal welfare and similar gut-brain axis mechanisms relevant to human research. Clavell-Sansalvador, Adrià, Raquel Río-López, Olga González-Rodríguez, L. Jesús García-Gil, Xavier Xifró, Gustavo Zigovski and Juan Ochoteco-Asensio et al. 2024. “Effect of Group Mixing and Available Space on Performance, Feeding Behavior, and Fecal Microbiota Composition during the Growth Period of Pigs. Animals, 14(18), 2704. doi:10.3390/ani14182704. 2076-2615 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/3328 https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182704 Effect of group mixing and available space on performance, feeding behavior, and fecal microbiota composition during the growth period of pigs