Dietary micro-fibrillated cellulose improves growth, reduces diarrhea, modulates gut microbiota, and increases butyrate production in post-weaning piglets.

Dietary fiber (DF) supplementation is one of the strategies to prevent on-farm infections; it has the capability to improve gut health and piglet performance. Among the beneficial DFs, micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) is a new-generation plant-derived innovative feed ingredient; MFC, originating from sugar-beet pulp, has a hyper-branched structure with the ability to form shear-thinning hydrogel and has a high water-binding capacity. We aimed to determine the effects of MFC supplementation on piglets' performance before and after weaning. We included 45 sows and their piglets in this trial and monitored the results until the piglets were 7 weeks old. Piglets supplemented with MFC had higher body weight and average daily growth (ADG) than did control piglets, both pre- and post-weaning. In addition, MFC supplementation in post-weaning piglets improved butyrate content, and reduced diarrhea incidence. These phenomena, perhaps due to the MFC supplementation at different stages until age 7 weeks. In addition, after weaning, MFC supplementation stimulated the growth of butyrate-producing bacteria such as Ruminococcus.2, Ruminococcaceae.UCG.014, Intestinibacter, Roseburia, and Oribacterium genera, as well as reduced the pathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter, and Escherichia. Evidently, supplementation of MFC in feed to young piglets can improve growth performance and butyric acid content and reduce post-weaning diarrhea.

Impact of Intestinal Microbiota on Growth Performance of Suckling and Weaned Piglets.

Small-scale studies investigating the relationship between pigs' intestinal microbiota and growth performance have generated inconsistent results. We hypothesized that on farms under favorable environmental conditions (e.g., promoting sow nest-building behavior, high colostrum production, low incidence of diseases and minimal use of antimicrobials), the piglet gut microbiota may develop toward a population that promotes growth and reduces pathogenic bacteria. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we sampled and profiled the fecal microbiota from 170 individual piglets throughout suckling and postweaning periods (in total 670 samples) to track gut microbiota development and its potential association with growth. During the suckling period, the dominant genera were Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, the latter being gradually replaced by Clostridium sensu scricto 1 as piglets aged. The gut microbiota during the nursery stage, not the suckling period, predicted the average daily growth (ADG) of piglets. The relative abundances of SCFA-producing genera, in particular Faecalibacterium, Megasphaera, Mitsuokella, and Subdoligranulum, significantly correlated with high ADG of weaned piglets. In addition, the succession of the gut microbiota in high-ADG piglets occurred faster and stabilized sooner upon weaning, whereas the gut microbiota of low-ADG piglets continued to mature after weaning. Overall, our findings suggest that weaning is the major driver of gut microbiota variation in piglets with different levels of overall growth performance. This calls for further research to verify if promotion of specific gut microbiota, identified here at weaning transition, is beneficial for piglet growth. IMPORTANCE The relationship between pigs' intestinal microbiota and growth performance is of great importance for improving piglets' health and reducing antimicrobial use. We found that gut microbiota variation is significantly associated with growth during weaning and the early nursery period. Importantly, transitions toward a mature gut microbiota enriched with fiber-degrading bacteria mostly complete upon weaning in piglets with better growth. Postponing the weaning age may therefore favor the development of fiber degrading gut bacteria, conferring the necessary capacity to digest and harvest solid postweaning feed. The bacterial taxa associated with piglet growth identified herein hold potential to improve piglet growth and health.

The effect of piglet vitality, birth order, and blood lactate on the piglet growth performances and preweaning survival.

BACKGROUND: Litter size is going up in modern pig production. Due to large litter size and increased farrowing duration, newborn piglets, during parturition, can suffer from asphyxiation. This alters their blood energy parameters and can contribute to their reduced vitality at birth, which is detrimental to their growth performance and survival. We aimed to evaluate the effects of vitality score, piglets' umbilical cord blood lactate, glucose, and butyrate, and birth order on growth performance and the preweaning mortality of piglets. RESULTS: The more vital (vitality score 2, VS2) piglets had higher umbilical cord blood glucose and butyrate, lower blood lactate, and higher colostrum intake (CI) at birth, and showed higher body weight at birth and at weaning than did less vital piglets (vitality score 1, VS1). Umbilical cord lactate negatively correlated with vitality, colostrum intake, and growth before weaning. Among the four birth-order groups (BOGs), piglets born earlier during parturition had a higher mean vitality score than those born later. BOG1 and BOG2 had significantly higher CI (p < 0.05) than BOG3 and BOG4. CONCLUSION: Changes in piglets' body weight, colostrum intake, and umbilical cord lactate are associated with piglet vitality and asphyxiation during farrowing. In addition, asphyxiation induced higher umbilical cord lactate may serve as an indicator of low vitality and low colostrum consumption. Overall, improvement in piglets' vitality and in the farrowing process can help in reducing piglet mortality.

In-Feed Supplementation of Resin Acid-Enriched Composition Modulates Gut Microbiota, Improves Growth Performance, and Reduces Post-Weaning Diarrhea and Gut Inflammation in Piglets.

The weaning process represents a delicate phase for piglets, and is often characterized by lower feed intake, lower weight gain, diarrhea, and ultimately increased mortality. We aimed to determine the effects of RAC supplementation in diets on improving piglet growth and vitality, reducing post-weaning diarrhea, and enhancing gut health. In a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment, we selected forty sows and their piglets. Piglets were followed until seven weeks of age. There were no significant differences found between RAC treated and control piglets until weaning (p = 0.26). However, three weeks after weaning, RAC treated piglets had higher body weight and average daily growth (ADG) than the control piglets (p = 0.003). In addition, the piglets that received RAC after weaning, irrespective of mother or prior creep feed treatment, had lower post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) and fecal myeloperoxidase (MPO) level than control piglets. Gut microbiota analysis in post-weaning piglets revealed that RAC supplementation significantly increased Lachnospiraceae_unclassified, Blautia, Butyricicoccus, Gemmiger and Holdemanella, and decreased Bacteroidales_unclassified. Overall, RAC supplementation to piglets modulated post-weaning gut microbiota, improved growth performance after weaning, reduced post-weaning diarrhea and reduced fecal myeloperoxidase levels. We therefore consider RAC to be a potential natural feed supplement to prevent enteric infections and improve growth performance in weaning piglets.