Gut Microbiota Profiles of 1,651 Commercial Boars Across Three Breeds

1,651 fecal samples from commercial boars were analyzed using shotgun metagenomic sequencing to uncover gut microbial structures. The dataset, created by Zikang Hu and last updated in May 2026, reveals significant differences in microbial composition across Duroc, Landrace, and Large White breeds. Breed accounted for 2% to 9% of the variance in gut microbial composition across different farms.

Use Cases

• Identifying breed-specific microbial biomarkers based on taxa like Lactobacillus amylovorus and Akkermansia muciniphila.
• Analyzing the influence of age stages on gut microbial composition in boars.
• Investigating the combined effects of genetic selection and diet on livestock microbiomes.
• Developing strategies to modulate gut microbiota for improving boar health and production performance.

Strengths

• Large-scale sample size of 1,651 boars from three breeds.
• Analysis includes breed, farm, and age stage as influencing factors with quantified effect sizes.
• Uses shotgun metagenomic sequencing, which provides species-level taxonomic resolution.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (22.2 KB), suggesting it contains summary or processed results rather than raw sequence data.

Provenance

Source

Zikang Hu via figshare.

Collection Method

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing performed on fecal samples from boars raised in three pig farms.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-20 05:50:00; freshness should be verified.