In the present study, two experiments were conducted to (1) evaluate the effect of laminarin and/or fucoidan on ileal morphology, nutrient transporter gene expression and coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients and (2) determine whether laminarin inclusion could be used as an alternative to ZnO supplementation in weaned pig diets. Expt 1 was designed as a 2 £ 2 factorial arrangement, comprising four dietary treatments (n 7 replicates, weaning age 24 d, live weight 6·9 kg). The dietary treatments were as follows: (1) basal diet; (2) basal diet þ 300 ppm laminarin; (3) basal diet þ 240 ppm fucoidan; (4) basal diet þ 300 ppm laminarin and 240 ppm fucoidan. There was an interaction between laminarin and fucoidan on the CTTAD of gross energy (GE) (P,0·05) and the expression of sodium -glucose-linked transporter 1 (SGLT1/SLC5A1) and GLUT1/SLC2A1 and GLUT2/SLC2A2 (P,0·05) in the ileum. The laminarin diet increased the CTTAD of GE and increased the expression of SGLT1, GLUT1 and GLUT2 compared with the basal diet. However, there was no effect of laminarin supplementation on these variables when combined with fucoidan. Expt 2 was designed as a complete randomised design (n 8 replicates/ treatment, weaning age 24 d, live weight 7·0 kg), and the treatments were (1) basal diet, (2) basal diet and laminarin (300 ppm), and (3) basal diet and ZnO (3100 ppm, 0-14 d, and 2600 ppm, 15-32 d post-weaning). The laminarin diet increased average daily gain and gain: feed ratio compared with the basal diet during days 0 -32 post-weaning (P,0·01) and had an effect similar to the ZnO diet. These results demonstrate that laminarin provides a dietary means to improve gut health and growth performance post-weaning.

a b s t r a c tCross-fostering is the transference of piglets to equalise litter size according to the birth weight. In many commercial farms piglets are usually grouped in litters with 100% adopted piglets. The aim of the experiment was to assess the behaviour of piglets during the suckling period as well as to assess their performance and mortality rate up to weaning in litters with different composition in terms of adopted and biological piglets. Three treatments were studied: 100B (100% biological piglets, n¼13), 50B50A (50% biological piglets and 50% adopted piglets, n¼ 13) and 100A (100% adopted piglets, n¼ 13). All litters were standardised to eleven piglets on average within 20.170.4 h (14.3-24.7 h) of birth. The behaviour of piglets was recorded during four consecutive sucklings for four days (days 1, 2, 4 and 6 after farrowing, considering day 1 as the cross-fostering day). The observations were performed at two time periods: TP1 (from release of piglets out of creep box until milk letdown) and TP2 (from the end of milk letdown up to 15 min later). Piglets were weighed at days 1, 4, 7, 10, 13 and 16. There were no differences (P40.05) among the treatments in the following behavioural variables: percentage of missed nursing episodes; number of fights for teats and percentage of piglets involved in fights at TP1; percentage of piglets vocalising at TP1 and at TP2; number of fights per piglet elsewhere in the cage and percentage of piglets involved in these fights; number of instances of playful behaviour per piglet and percentage of piglets involved in it. At TP2 of day 1, 100B piglets displayed a lower number (Po0.05) of fights for teat (0.9 vs. 1.6 vs. 1.4 for 100B, 100A and 50B50A, respectively) and tended to have a lower percentage (Po0.07) of piglets involved in these fights than 100A (49.6%, 67.2% and 64.9% for 100B, 100A and 50B50A, respectively). Nutritive nursing episodes (overall medians of 4.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 4.0 for days 1, 2, 4 and 6, respectively), survival rate (overall 97.2%) and average weight of piglets (1983 g, 2650 g, 3411 g, 4207 g and 5047 g for days 4, 7, 10, 13 and 16, respectively) were similar (P40.05) among treatments. Cross-fostering performed on average at 20 h after birth has no adverse effects on survival and growth performance of adopted piglets.

In the present study, a 2 £ 2 factorial arrangement was conducted to investigate the effect of maternal supplementation with seaweed extracts (2 SWE v. þSWE, n 20) from day 83 of gestation until weaning (day 28) on post-weaning (PW) growth performance, faecal score, faecal enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) toxin quantification, intestinal histology and cytokine mRNA of unchallenged and ETEC-challenged pigs. Pigs were ETEC challenged on day 9 PW. There was a maternal treatment £ challenge (SWE £ ETEC) interaction effect on growth performance and faecal score (P,0·05). Pigs from SWE-supplemented sows and ETEC-challenged (SE) had higher average daily gain (ADG) during 0 -13 d PW and reduced faecal score during 0 -72 h post-challenge than those from basal-fed sows and ETEC-challenged (BE) (P,0·05). However, there was no difference between unchallenged pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows (SC) and basal-fed sows (BC) (P.0·10). Pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows had reduced heat-labile enterotoxin gene copy numbers than those from the basal-fed sows (P,0·05). Maternal SWE supplementation increased the villus height in the ileum of pigs (P,0·05). There was a SWE £ ETEC interaction effect (P,0·05) on IL-6 mRNA and a SWE £ gastrointestinal (GI) region interaction effect (P,0·05) on transforming growth factor-b1 (TGF-b1) and TNF-a mRNA. IL-6 mRNA was down-regulated in SC pigs than BC pigs (P,0·05). However, there was no difference in IL-6 mRNA between SE and BE pigs. The mRNA of TGF-b1 and TNF-a was down-regulated in the colon of pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows compared with those from the basal-fed sows (P, 0·05). However, there was no difference in TGF-b1 and TNF-a mRNA in the ileum between the pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows and basal-fed sows. In conclusion, maternal SWE supplementation improves ADG and the aspects of GI health of weaned pigs following an ETEC challenge.Key words: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 challenge: Inflammatory cytokines: Pig performance: Seaweed extracts Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 is a major cause of diarrhoea in neonates and recently in weaned pigs (1,2) . It results in reduced growth rate, increased morbidity and mortality, and great economic loss in pig production worldwide (3,4) . Post-weaning (PW) diarrhoea due to ETEC K88 generally occurs in pigs 3-10 d PW (5,6) . ETEC K88 colonises in the small intestine and releases specific enterotoxins that impair intestinal barrier function, which indirectly induces fluid losses (4 -6) . Several factors, such as stress of weaning, lack of milk and dietary changes, contribute to the severity of the disease. Furthermore, weaning is often associated with undesirable morphological and physiological changes in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that is related to a reduced voluntary feed intake and, subsequently, susceptibility to intestinal health imbalance (7,8) . The ban on the inclusion of antibiotic growth promoters in weaning pig diets in Europe (European Community Regulation no. 1831/2003) has been associ...

The experiment investigated the effect of maternal dietary supplementation of seaweed-derived polysaccharides (SDP) (–SDP v. +SDP, n   20) from day 83 of gestation until weaning (day 28) on selected sow faeces and piglet digesta microbiota populations, piglet small-intestinal morphology, and intestinal nutrient transporter and inflammatory cytokine gene expression at birth, 48 h after birth and weaning. The effect of maternal dietary treatment on the piglet gene expression profile of inflammatory cytokines in the colon following a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge was also investigated. Dietary SDP reduced sow faecal Enterobacteriaceae gene numbers at parturition. Small-intestinal morphology, nutrient transporter and cytokine gene expression in newborn piglets did not differ between maternal dietary treatments (P > 0·10). At 48 h after birth, sodium–glucose-linked transporter 1 gene expression was down-regulated in the ileum of piglets suckling the SDP-supplemented sows compared with those suckling the basal sows (P = 0·050). There was a SDP × LPS challenge interaction on IL-1 and IL-6 gene expression in the colon of piglets (P < 0·05). The gene expression of IL-1 and IL-6 was down-regulated in the LPS-challenged colon of piglets suckling the SDP sows compared with those suckling the basal sows (P < 0·05). However, there was no difference in IL-1 and IL-6 gene expression in the unchallenged colon between treatment groups. At weaning, piglets suckling the SDP-supplemented sows had increased villus height in the jejunum and ileum compared with those suckling the basal-fed sows (P < 0·05). In conclusion, maternal dietary SDP supplementation enhanced the immune response of suckling piglets and improved gut morphology, making them more immune competent to deal with post-weaning adversities.

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