Say what? We don’t really know what the microbial community normally looks like in healthy pigs so researchers chose to study the saliva of weaned piglets to fill a scientific gap. The study found significant differences in samples collected from five farms, but noted the bacterial communities identified in oral fluids from piglets appear to be less diverse than those in fecal or environmental samples.
The study also determined that bacterial communities in fecal samples were more likely to reflect the piglets’ environment than those in oral samples. The variances between mouth and saliva microbes and those in fecal samples were noted as a unique discovery.
Source: Feed Strategy, June 4, 2024. Link.
Samples from all five farms contained streptococcus bacteria, and analysis of those samples suggest streptococcus plays a key role in the oral microbiome of piglets in spite of its potential to cause disease in pigs and humans.”