# Influence of Sugar Beet Pulp Supplementation on Pigs' Health and Production Quality
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Microbial Profile of Pigs' Faces  
Figure 1 shows the bacterial genera in the faeces of pigs before distribution into separate feeding groups. The most prevalent genera before the experimental feeding were _Prevotella_ (40.3%) and _Clostridium_ (8.2%). The remaining genera were _Faecalibacterium_ (2.9%), _Barnesiella_ (2.4%) and other bacterial genera that compose the core microbiota of pigs [55]. At the end of the experiment, the microbial profiles in pig faeces differed significantly (Figure 2). The most prevalent genera in the control group remained _Prevotella_ (18.9%) and _Clostridium_ (11.6%), followed by _Barnesiella_ (7.4%), _Intestimomas_ (4.1%) and _Oscillospira_ (3.9%), with a prevalence above 3% of the total bacteria. In the TG-I group, the most prevalent genera were _Barnesiella_ (22.7%), _Bifidobacterium_ (14.6%), _Collinsella_ (9.8%), _Prevotella_ (6.1%) and _Olsenella_ (5.1%). The most obvious differences between the groups were the high (almost 150 times) increase in _Bifidobacterium_ in the TG-I group and the less obvious decrease in _Clostridium_ (4 times). _Bifidobacterium_ contains various probiotic bacteria that produce lactic acid and can use a range of dietary carbohydrates that escape degradation in the upper parts of the intestine, many of which are plant-derived oligo- and polysaccharides [56]. It may be assumed that SBP had a strong influence on the proliferation of _Bifidobacterium_ species that can use this carbohydrate-rich by-product. There is not much information about the significance of _Clostridium_ for pigs, but it depends on the _Clostridium_ species. Although some of the species can cause different diseases in pigs, a high prevalence of _Clostridium_ was found in healthy pigs in this study; moreover, this genus is known as a constituent of normal microbiota of pigs and depends on pig age, breed and feed [57]. It is difficult to predict the importance of _Clostridium_ and _Prevotella_ decreases in the pig gut due to the significant increase in _Bifidobacterium_, and further studies are needed to evaluate the health status of pigs after such changes in microbial profiles.  
Although the abundance of _Bifidobacterium_ in pigs' guts may depend on the feed [58], overall _Bifidobacterium_, contains species beneficial for pigs [59]. The other probiotic genera, _Lactobacillus_, was not highly abundant in both groups; the percental amount differed significantly between groups (\(p\leq 0.05\)), with 13 times higher values (1.3% vs. 0.1%) in the TG-I group compared to the CG. The abundances of _Collinsella_ and _Olsenella_ were also higher in the TG-I group. _Collinsella_ are short-chain FA producers feeding on animal- and plant-derived carbohydrates such as lactose, fructose, and starch, which are major components of the pigs' diet [60; 61]. The _Olsenella_ is an effective carbohydrate fermenter and a producer of acetic and lactic acids; for these reasons, it is considered to be potentially beneficial [62]. The _Faecalibacterium_ is known as probiotic bacterial genus [61]; it had a higher prevalence in the TG-I group, in comparison with control (2.3% vs. 1.3%; \(p\leq 0.05\)). Finally, the faeces of pigs in the TG-I group contained significantly more bacteria that are considered as probiotic microbiota.  
Figure 1: Microbial profiles of pig faeces before the experimental feeding (day 81). Genera with a prevalence of at least 1% from all bacterial reads are presented.  
Figure 2: Microbial profiles of pigs’ faeces at genus level after experimental feeding (day 163). Bacterial genera with a prevalence of at least 1% from all bacterial reads in any of the tested groups are presented. * Statistically significant differences between groups.