ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Livestock Genomics
Association of Serum Biochemical Parameters with Growth Performance and Gut Microbiota in Large White Pigs
Provisionally accepted
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding, Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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Serum biochemical parameters are crucial indicators of animal health and metabolism, providing valuable insights into nutritional and physiological status. To investigate the correlations among serum biochemical indicators, growth traits, and gut microbiota, a total of 274 Large White pigs (124 boars and 150 sows) were selected as experimental subjects in this study. At the early fattening stage (80 days of age), blood samples and fecal samples were collected from all pigs. Five key serum biochemical parameters(Glu, LDH, HDL-C, LDL-C, sCr) and fecal microbial diversity were measured. Additionally, the main economic traits of the pigs were measured following the standard evaluation criteria for swine production performance. Results showed that serum creatinine (sCr) was negatively correlated with residual feed intake (RFI), average daily feed intake (ADFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and backfat thickness (r = -0.13 to -0.25, p < 0.05), but positively correlated with loin muscle area (r = 0.13, p < 0.05). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was negatively correlated with FCR (r = -0.24, p < 0.05) and RFI (r = -0.26, p < 0.05). At the genus level, LDH was positively correlated with Prevotella, Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, and Desulfovibrio, and negatively correlated with Fibrobacter. Meanwhile, sCr showed positive correlations with Treponema and CF231, and negative correlations with Subdoligranulum, Eubacterium, and Dorea. These genera may serve as microbial biomarkers for sCr and LDH levels. Our findings provide valuable insights for early-stage breeding selection and further research into blood biochemical indicators in pigs.
Keywords: Serum biochemical parameters, growth performance, Gut Microbiota, Lactate dehydrogenase, Large white pigs, serum creatinine
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Zhang, Xia, Liu and Liang. 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: Jing Liang, liangjing@gxu.edu.cn
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