Fig. 2

Overall fecal bacterial community composition in female pigs from the earliest life period to estrus (at time of artificial insemination), a week prior to parturition (pre-parturition) and the day of parturition and first litter weaning (3–53 weeks of age). A NMDS plot based on Bray‒Curtis dissimilarity between samples representing genus-level microbiome variation in pigs of all ages, and B during estrus and/or artificial insemination to parturition and weaning. Dots represent one sample and are colored by age, with the ellipse representing the 90% CI for data points from different physiological stages in female pigs (i.e., estrus and a week prior parturition, at parturition and at first litter weaning). The stress of the ordination, effect size (R²) calculated by multivariate permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) tests and corresponding P values are shown in the plots. C Boxplots and distribution of the values of fecal bacterial community dissimilarity (Bray‒Curtis value) among ages. Bray‒Curtis values ranged from 0 to 1, with 0 being the least dissimilar (i.e., more similar) and 1 being the most dissimilar. D, E Line plots showing age-associated dynamics of fecal bacterial alpha diversity measured as the richness and Shannon diversity (at the ASV level) from 3 to 53 weeks of life