Dietary pea fiber increases diversity of colonic methanogens of pigs with a shift from Methanobrevibacter to Methanomassiliicoccus-like genus and change in numbers of three hydrogenotrophs.

Background: Pea fiber (PF) is a potential fibrous supplement in swine production. The influence of dietary PF on microbial community in the colon of pigs remains largely unexplored. Methanogens in the hindgut of monogastric animals play important roles in degradation of dietary fibers and efficient removal of microbial metabolic end product H. Understanding the impact of dietary PF on the structure of colonic methanogens may help understand the mechanisms of microbe-mediated physiological functions of PF. This study investigated the influence of PF on the diversity and quantity and/or activity of colonic methanongens of piglets and finishing pigs. Four archaeal 16S rRNA clone libraries were constructed for piglets and finishers fed with control (Piglet-C and Finisher-C) or PF diet (Piglet-P and Finisher-P).

Results: There were 195, 190, 194 and 196 clones obtained from the library Piglet-C, Piglet-P, Finisher-C and Finisher-P, respectively, with corresponding 12, 11, 11 and 16 OTUs (operational taxonomic units). Significant differences of Shannon Index among the four libraries were found (P < 0.05). Libshuff analysis showed that the archaeal community structure among the four libraries were significantly different (P < 0.0001). The predominant methanogens shifted from Methanobrevibacter to Methanobrevibacter and Methanomassiliicoccus-like genus as a result of dietary PF. Supplementation of PF significantly increased the copy numbers of mcrA and dsrA genes (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Alteration of methanogenic community structure may lead to functional transition from utilization of H/CO to employment of both H/CO and methanol/CO. Quantification of three functional genes (mcrA, dsrA and fhs) of methanogens, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and acetogens revealed that dietary PF also increased the activity of methanogens and SRB,probably associated with increased proportion of Methanomassiliicoccus luminyensis-species. Further study is required to examine the interaction between specific methanogens and SRB during fermentation of dietary PF.