No abstract

No abstract

The intestinal microbiota affect various physiological traits of host animals such as brain development, obesity, age, and the immune system. In the swine industry, understanding the relationship between intestinal microbiota and growth stage is essential because growth stage is directly related to the feeding system of pigs, thus we studied the intestinal microbiota of 32 healthy pigs across five sows at 10, 21, 63, 93, and 147 d of ages. The intestinal microbiota were altered with growth of pigs and were separated into three distinct clusters. The relative abundance of several phyla and genera were significantly different between growth stages. We observed co-occurrence pattern of the intestinal microbiota at each growth stage. In addition, we predicted the functions of the intestinal microbiota and confirmed that several KEGG pathways were significantly different between growth stages. We also explored the relationship between the intestinal microbiota and innate factors such as the maternal effect and gender. When pigs were young, innate factors affected on construction of intestinal microbiota, however this tendency was disappeared with growth. Our findings broaden the understanding of microbial ecology, and the results will be used as a reference for investigating host-microbe interactions in the swine industry.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of beta-glucan on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and immunity in weanling pigs. In Exp. 1, 210 weanling pigs (6.38 +/- 0.92 kg of BW) were fed dietary beta-glucan (0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, or 0.04%) for 5 wk. In Exp. 2, 168 pigs (6.18 +/- 1.31 kg of BW) were fed no beta-glucan or antibiotics (T1), 0.02% beta-glucan (T2), only antibiotics (T3), or 0.02% beta-glucan with antibiotics (T4) for 8 wk. In Exp. 2, the antibiotics fed were apramycin and carbadox in phase I (0 to 2 wk) and carbadox and chlortetracycline in phase II (3 to 8 wk). During Exp. 2, the performance study was conducted for 5 wk, and the immune response was tested until 8 wk. In Exp. 1, there was a trend for a linear increase (P = 0.068) in ADG as the dietary beta-glucan concentration increased in the diet. The digestibilities of DM, GE, CP, ether extract, Ca, and P increased linearly (P < 0.05) in the beta-glucan-supplemented pigs. In Exp. 2, the overall ADG was greater (P < 0.05) in treatment T4 compared with the control group (T1). Also, except for P, this group showed greater (P < 0.05) nutrient digestibilities than the control group. In Exp. 2, at d 15, 24, and 46 antibody titers were measured by ELISA against Pasteurella multocida type A and D after vaccination with atrophic rhinitis, and they differed significantly (P < 0.05) with no particular trend. Flow cytometry was used to determine porcine lymphocyte subpopulations at 4 and 8 wk of Exp. 2. There was an increase in CD4 cells (P < 0.05) and a trend for an increase in CD8 cells (P < 0.10) at 8 wk in pigs fed the T2 diet compared with the other groups. Overall, increasing the dietary concentrations of beta-glucan did not improve ADG without antibiotic, and in weanling pigs antibiotics seem to be more effective in improving nutrient digestibilities and growth performance than beta-glucan.

To elucidate the efficacy of different soy protein sources on piglet's performance, a total of 280 weaned piglets (Duroc×Yorkshire×Landrace, 23±3 d of age, 5.86±0.45 kg initial BW) were allotted to 5 treatment diets comprising soybean meal (SBM), soy protein concentrate (SPC), Hamlet protein (HP300), fungal (Aspergillus oryzae) fermented soy protein (FSP-A), and fungal plus bacterial (A. oryzae+Bacillus subtilis) fermented soy protein (FSP-B), respectively. Experimental diets for feeding trial were formulated to contain each soy protein sources at 8% level to corn-whey powder basal diet. There were 14 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Experimental diets were fed from 0 to 14 d after weaning and then a common commercial diet was fed from 15 to 35 d. Also for ileal digestibility studies, 18 pigs were assigned to 6 dietary treatments as N-free, SBM, SPC, HP300, FSP-A and FSP-B with Tcanulation at distal ileum for 6 days. At 14 th d of experimental feeding, the ADG was significantly higher (p<0.05) in SPC fed diet as compared with others. Similar trend was noticed during the 15-35 d and overall study (0-35 d). All the processed soy protein sources tested in this experiment improved (p<0.05) growth than SBM during overall study. The nutrient digestibility of GE, DM, CP and Ca showed lower (p<0.05) values in SBM and FSP-A fed groups than SPC and FSP-B treatments. The apparent ileal digestibility of TEAA, non-TEAA and TAA showed lower (p<0.05) in SBM treatments compared with other soy protein sources. The true ileal digestibility of TEAA, non-TEAA and TAA were lower (p<0.05) in SBM fed group than SPC and HP300 treatments, and lower than FSP treatments though they didn't achieve significant difference (p>0.05). Villous height and crypt depth was not affected by dietary treatments. In conclusion, the growth and digestibility of nutrients in weaned pigs fed SPC was superior to others. Also FSP-A and FSP-B showed improved performance than those fed SBM.

Four experiments were conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of corn distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) diets with mannanase on performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nutrients, blood metabolites, and carcass characteristics of grower-finisher pigs. In Exp. 1, 96 grower pigs (initial BW, 57.6 kg), 6 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment, were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets containing 10% DDGS and 0, 200, 400, or 600 units (U) of mannanase/kg. The ADG and blood glucose increased (linear, P < 0.05) with increasing concentrations of dietary mannanase. Pigs fed diets containing increasing levels of mannanase had improved ATTD of DM and CP (quadratic, P < 0.05). In Exp. 2, 64 finisher pigs (initial BW, 92.7 kg) were allotted to 4 treatment groups with 4 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Pigs were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets containing 15% DDGS and 0, 200, 400, or 600 U of mannanase/kg. Linear increases (P < 0.05) in ADG, blood glucose, and ATTD of DM, GE, and CP were observed with increasing levels of dietary mannanase supplementation. In Exp. 3, 208 grower pigs (initial BW, 60.5 kg) were allotted to 4 treatment groups with 13 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Pigs were fed diets containing 0 or 10% DDGS and 0 or 400 U of mannanase/kg in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. An increase (P < 0.05) in ADG and blood glucose for pigs fed diets containing mannanase was observed. The ATTD of DM and CP (P < 0.05) was decreased with the inclusion of DDGS, whereas pigs fed the mannanase-supplemented diets had an increased (P < 0.05) ATTD of CP. In Exp. 4, 208 finisher pigs (initial BW, 86.5 kg), with 13 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment, were fed diets containing 0 or 15% DDGS and 0 or 400 U of mannanase/kg in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. The ADG and blood glucose increased (P < 0.05) when mannanase was included in the diets. The ATTD of DM (P < 0.05), GE (P < 0.10), and CP (P < 0.05) increased by the supplementation with mannanase in the diets of finisher pigs. The carcass characteristics and meat quality were not affected by the DDGS or mannanase inclusion. These results indicated that including 10 and 15% DDGS in conventional swine grower and finisher diets had no detrimental effects on growth performance or carcass characteristics. In addition, supplementation with 400 U of mannanase/kg to diets containing 10 and 15% DDGS fed to grower and finisher pigs may improve growth performance and the ATTD of CP.

No abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate multi-microbe submerged liquid (SLF) and solid substrate (SSF) fermented probiotic products in broilers. The SLF and SSF probiotics were comprised of Lactobacillus acidophilus (1.1×10 9 and 4×10 8 cfu/g), Bacillus subtilis (1.1×10 9 and 4.8×10 9 cfu/g), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (1.5×10 7 and 1.0×10 4 cfu/g) and Aspergillus oryzae (2.6×10 7 and 4.3×10 7 cfu/g), respectively. In Exp. 1, 640 day-old Ross chicks were allotted to 4 treatments, each comprising 4 replicates (40 chicks/replicate). The basal diet was prepared without any antimicrobials (negative control, NC), and 20 mg/kg avilamycin (positive control, PC), 0.3% SLF and 0.3% SSF probiotics were added to the basal diets as treatments. Birds fed PC and SSF diets showed improved (p<0.001) overall weight gain and F/G than birds fed NC and SLF diets; whereas, birds fed SLF diet had better weight gain and F/G than birds fed NC diet. Retention of CP was higher (p<0.05) in birds fed the SSF diet than birds fed PC, SLF and NC diets. Birds fed the SLF diet tended to have higher (p<0.10) cecal total anaerobic bacteria than birds fed PC and NC diets; whereas, lesser cecal coliforms were noticed in birds fed PC, SLF and SSF diets than birds fed the NC diet. In Exp. 2, 640 day-old Ross chicks were randomly allotted to 4 treatments in a 2×2 factorial arrangement. Each treatment had 4 replicates (40 chicks/replicate). Two different multi-microbe probiotic products (0.3% SLF or SSF) each with two different antibiotics (10 mg/kg colistin, or 20 mg/kg avilamycin) were used as dietary treatments. Birds fed the SSF diet had greater weight gain (p<0.001), better F/G (p<0.05), greater retention of energy (p<0.001) and protein (p<0.05), and lesser cecal Clostridium (d 35) than birds fed SLF diet. Birds fed the colistin-supplemented diet had less (p<0.01) cecal coliforms when compared with birds fed the avilamycin diet. Additionally, birds fed the avilamycin diet had greater energy retention (p<0.05) than birds fed the colistin diet. Thus, the results of this study suggest the multi-microbe probiotic product prepared by a solid substrate fermentation method to be superior to the probiotic product prepared by submerged liquid fermentation; moreover, feeding of probiotics with different antibiotics did not elicit any interaction effect between probiotic and antibiotic.