Veterinary Science & Technology

Robert Pieper

Publications

• Research Article
  The Impact of Dietary Zinc Oxide on the Bacterial Diversity of the Small Intestinal Microbiota of Weaned Piglets
  Author(s): Ingo C Starke, Robert Pieper, Wilfried Vahjen and Jurgen ZentekIngo C Starke, Robert Pieper, Wilfried Vahjen and Jurgen Zentek
  
  Dietary zinc oxide is often used in pharmacological concentrations to promote health as well as performance of weaned piglets due to its bacteriostatic effects. This study was conducted to provide an in depth analysis of the bacterial composition in weaned piglets fed different amounts of dietary zinc oxide. Piglets were fed diets containing 57 (low), 164 (medium) or 2425 (high) mg/kg dietary zinc. Zinc above the basal dietary level was supplied from analytical grade zinc oxide (ZnO). DNA was extracted from stomach and ileum digesta samples of 32 and 53d old animals (n=4 per group) and used to generate bar-coded 16S ribosomal DNA amplicons for deep sequencing analysis. A total of 9 phyla, 40 orders, 75 families and 328 genera were detected in 8.76 x 105 sequencing reads. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were the dominant phyla, but no significa.. Read More»
  DOI: 10.4172/2157-7579.1000171

  Abstract PDF