ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Horizons in Gut Microbiome Research for Enhancing Livestock ProductivityView all 40 articles
Maternal supplementation of functional fiber improves reproduction performance by modulating gut microbiota during pregnancy
Provisionally accepted
- Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
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Results: DF treatment increased the numbers of total born, healthy piglets and litter birth weight (P < 0.05), whereas markedly decreased (P < 0.05) the number of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) compared with the CON group. Gut microbiota compositions underwent significant changes across gestation stages. Gut microbial diversity in DF group exhibited enhanced stability and resilience. Co-occurrence network analysis further demonstrated that the DF group maintained higher network stability at both G30 d and G109 d, with topological parameters consistently supporting these findings. In addition, Treponema showed a significant increase in the CON group starting from G30 d and persisted into late pregnancy (P < 0.05), whereas NK4A214_group showed a significant increase in the DF group at G30 d , G109 d and L14 d (P < 0.05). The abundance of Treponema was negatively correlated with the numbers of total born (P < 0.01) and healthy piglets (P < 0.05). NK4A214_group showed a positive correlated with the numbers of total born and born alive (P < 0.05), and a highly significant positive correlated with the numbers of healthy piglets (P < 0.01). Fecal non-targeted metabolomics revealed that differential metabolites were significantly enriched in bile secretion and prolactin signaling pathways, with a series of bile acids, including hyodeoxycholic acid (HDCA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), glycochenodeoxycholic acid (GCDCA), cholic acid (CA), lithocholic acid (LCA), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and γ-muricholic acid (γ-MCA), were significantly increased in the DF group. And the abundance of NK4A214 was positively correlated with GCDCA (P < 0.05) and progesterone (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The abundance of Oscillospiraceae, especially NK4A214_group of DF sows during gestation, may improve the numbers of total born and healthy piglets, with GCDCA likely playing a significant role in this process.
Keywords: Dietary Fiber, Fecalmetabolites, Gut Microbiota, Reproductive performance, sow
Received: 02 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Yin, Cheng, Wang, Zhou, WEI, Siwen and Peng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jian Peng
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