Development of the piglet fecal bacteriome and mycobiome from birth through weaning

What is the likelihood that the piglets mycobiome has its origins in maternal skin coating and especially that of the teat/udder?

Has there been any measurement of SCFA in the stomach, especially propionic acid that we know has potent anti-mould property and could well be being produced by initial fermentation of cereal starch that will be novel material in the non-creep-fed, newly weaned piglet? Presence of this propionic acid potentially would colour the mycobiome outcome and certainly would be of influence given its use in exogenous SCFA mixtures that are used either for water-line hygiene or feed hygiene purposes.

Hi Kevin, I don't know much about the mycobiome, but I would imagine colonization of the GI tract would be influenced strongly by species present on the maternal skin coating and that of the udder as well as in the general environment of the shed, in just the same way as bacterial colonization would occur. Quantitatively though, I suspect the microbiome has a greater impact than the mycobiome, but again I don't have evidence for that. John