Gestational and early-life dietary impacts on performance, welfare and gut health

家猪（Sus scrofa domesticus）在其整个生命过程中面临着一系列的环境挑战，并且猪之间在如何应对这些挑战方面存在相当大的差异。微生物群和后代随后的生长发育是由怀孕期间的条件、分娩地点和方式以及个体的饮食决定的。鉴于母猪可能在室内或室外，具有不同的分娩条件和仔猪喂养系统，仔猪的微生物群和发育可能受到其出生环境的严重影响，并可能影响个体应对环境挑战的能力，最终损害生产性能和健康。肠道微生物群及其与产前和新生儿饮食的关联以及随后对生产性能、健康和认知发展的影响是学术界和猪和动物营养部门日益关注的一个新兴领域，具有巨大的潜在现实影响。本项目旨在以猪为模型系统，研究不同饲粮成分对仔猪认知发育、福利和生产性能的影响。

Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) face a range of environmental challenges throughout their life course, and there is considerable variability between pigs in how well they cope with these challenges. The microbiome and the subsequent growth and development of offspring are shaped by the conditions experienced during pregnancy, the location and mode of delivery and the diet of an individual. Given that sows may be located either indoors or outdoors with different farrowing conditions and piglet feeding systems, a piglet's microbiome and development could be heavily influenced by the environment in which it is born, and could affect an individual's ability to cope with environmental challenges, ultimately compromising performance and health. The gut microbiome and its associations with pre- and neo-natal diet and subsequent impacts on performance, health and cognitive development is an area of emerging and increasing interest to both academics and the pig and animal nutrition sectors with substantial potential real-world impact. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the impacts of different dietary constituents in the pre-and neo-natal stages of development, and early life environment on cognitive development, welfare and performance, using pigs as a model system.