This study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Bacillus coagulans (BC) and yeast hydrolysates (YH) on growth performance, antioxidant activity, cytokines and intestinal microflora of growing-finishing pigs. Thirty-six barrows (initial BW = 26.87 ± 2.65 kg) were assigned randomly to 3 treatments with 4 replicates, 3 pigs per replicate. Pigs in the control group (CON) were fed a basal diet, and the diets for the other 2 groups were the basal diet plus BC at 200 mg/kg and the basal diet plus YH at 3,000 mg/kg. The trial lasted for 104 d. Compared with CON, YH treatment significantly increased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) during the finishing phase (P < 0.05), and significantly enhanced ADG during the overall period (P < 0.05). Dietary inclusion of BC tended to increase ADFI during the finishing period (P = 0.08). Compared with CON, BC treatment improved lysozyme (LZM), complement 3 (C3), complement 4 (C4), interlenkin-10 (IL-10) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) level in serum (P < 0.05). Dietary inclusion of YH enhanced the serum IL-10 level (P < 0.05) and tended to increase T-AOC level (P = 0.06). Dietary inclusion of YH elevated (P < 0.05) the number of Lactobacillus and Bacillus in cecal contents of pigs, promoted the populations of Bifidobacterium and Bacillus in colonic contents. Moreover, the BC diet increased (P < 0.05) the count of Bifidobacterium in colonic contents. These results indicated that dietary BC supplementation is beneficial to improve the immunity. Dietary YH supplementation promoted the growth performance and the populations of beneficial bacteria in the hindgut of the growing-finishing pigs.

Antibiotics growth promoters (AGPs) have been widely used in the livestock industry to improve the growth performance and health status of animals (Thacker, 2013). However, the continuous use of AGP caused the hazard of antibiotic-resistant and drug residue, thereby AGPs were prohibited in many countries (Sha et al., 2015).Numerous feed additives were discovered as potential antibiotic alternatives in order to encourage growth and secure intestinal health in animals, such as probiotics or yeast-based additives (Superchi et al., 2012;Xie et al., 2015). Evidence has shown that lactic acidproducing bacteria (LAB) are an efficient probiotic for maintaining

Background Intestinal inflammation is the main risk factor causing intestinal barrier dysfunction and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can trigger inflammatory responses in various eukaryotic species. Yeast hydrolysate (YH) possesses multi-biological effects and is received remarkable attention as a functional ingredient for improving growth performance and promoting health in animals. However, there is still inconclusive on the protective effects of dietary YH supplementation on intestinal barrier of piglets. This study was conducted to investigate the attenuate effects of YH supplementation on inflammatory responses and intestinal barrier injury in piglets challenged with LPS. Methods Twenty-four piglets (with an average body weight of 7.42 ± 0.34 kg) weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments (12 replications with one pig per pen): a basal diet or a basal diet containing YH (5 g/kg). On the 22nd d, 6 piglets in each treatment were intraperitoneally injected with LPS at 150 μg/kg BW, and the others were injected with the same amount of sterile normal saline. Four hours later, blood samples of each piglet were collected and then piglets were euthanized. Results Dietary YH supplementation increased average daily feed intake and average daily gain (P < 0.01), decreased the ratio of feed intake to gain of piglets (P = 0.048). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection induced systemic inflammatory response, evidenced by the increase of serum concentrations of haptoglobin (HP), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Furthermore, LPS challenge resulted in inflammatory intestinal damage, by up-regulation of the protein or mRNA abundances of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-1β, toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4) and phosphor-nuclear factor-κB-p65 (p-NFκB-p65) (P < 0.01), and down-regulation of the jejunal villus height, the protein and mRNA abundances of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin (OCC; P < 0.05) in jejunal mucosa. Dietary YH supplementation decreased the impaired effects of ACTH, cortisol, HP, IL-1β and diamine oxidase in serum (P < 0.05). Moreover, YH supplementation also up-regulated the jejunal villus height, protein and mRNA abundances of ZO-1 and OCC (P < 0.05), down-regulated the mRNA expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β and the protein abundances of TNF-α, IL-1β, TLR4 and p-NFκB-p65 in jejunal mucosa in LPS-challenged pigs (P < 0.01). Conclusion Yeast hydrolysate could attenuate inflammatory response and intestinal barrier injury in weaned piglets challenged with LPS, which was associated with the inhibition of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway activation. Graphical Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of dietary betaine supplementation on growth performance, meat quality and muscle lipid metabolism of growing-finishing pigs. Thirty-six crossbred pigs weighing 24.68 ± 0.97 kg were randomly allotted into two treatments consisting of a basal diet supplemented with 0 or 1200 mg/kg betaine. Each treatment included six replications of three pigs per pen. Following 119 days of feeding trial, dietary betaine supplementation significantly enhanced average daily gain (ADG) (p < 0.05) and tended to improve average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p = 0.08) and decreased the feed intake to gain ratio (F/G) (p = 0.09) in pigs during 100~125 kg. Furthermore, a tendency to increase ADG (p = 0.09) and finial body weight (p = 0.09) of pigs over the whole period was observed in the betaine diet group. Betaine supplementation significantly increased a*45 min and marbling and decreased b*24 h and cooking loss in longissimus lumborum (p < 0.05), tended to increase intramuscular fat (IMF) content (p = 0.08), however had no significant influence on carcass characteristics (p > 0.05). Betaine supplementation influenced the lipid metabolism of pigs, evidenced by a lower serum concentration of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p < 0.05), an up-regulation of mRNA abundance of fatty acid synthase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (p < 0.05), and a down-regulation of mRNA abundance of lipolysis-related genes, including the silent information regulators of transcription 1 (p = 0.08), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorα (p < 0.05), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (p = 0.07) and carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (P < 0.05) in longissimus lumborum. Moreover, betaine markedly improved the expression of microRNA-181a (miR-181a) (p < 0.05) and tended to enhance miR-370 (p = 0.08). Overall, betaine supplementation at 1200 mg/kg could increase the growth performance of growing-finishing pigs. Furthermore, betaine had a trend to improve meat quality and IMF content via increasing lipogenesis and down-regulating the abundance of genes associated with lipolysis, respectively, which was associated with the regulation of miR-181a and miR-370 expression by betaine.

Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of betaine (BET) supplementation in diets with reduced net energy (NE) levels on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and serum metabolomic profiles in growing pigs. In Exp. 1, 24 growing pigs (initial body weight, BW, 30.83 ± 2.50 kg) were allotted to one of the four treatments (six replications with one pig per pen) in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, including two dietary NE levels (2475 [N-NE] or 2395 [R80-NE] kcal/kg) and two BET doses (0 or 1500 mg/kg). In Exp. 2, 72 growing pigs were used in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, including three dietary NE levels (2475 [N-NE], 2415 [R60-NE] or 2355 [R120-NE] kcal/kg) and two BET doses (0 or 1500 mg/kg). Pigs with initial BW of 31.44 ± 1.65 kg were divided to one of the six treatments (six replications with two pigs per pen). In Exp. 1, lowing NE concentrations increased average daily feed intake (ADFI) by 10.69% in pigs fed the diet without BET (P &gt; 0.05). BET significant increased ADFI in N-NE diet (P &lt; 0.05) but had no influence on ADFI in R80-NE diet (P &gt; 0.05). BET enhanced the apparent digestibility of crude protein (CP), dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), gross energy (GE) and ether extract (EE) in R80-NE diet (P &lt; 0.05). In Exp. 2, lowing NE concentrations enhanced ADFI (P &gt; 0.05) and decreased average daily gain (ADG) (P &lt; 0.05). The reduction in feed intake by BET was further enhanced as NE concentrations decreased from 2415 to 2355 kcal/kg (P &lt; 0.10). BET reversed the elevation of serum triglyceride, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels caused by R120-NE diet (P &lt; 0.05). The concentrations of cholecystokinin and glucagon-like peptide 1 were increased by BET in pigs fed R120-NE diet (P &lt; 0.05). Serum metabolomics reveals that lowing dietary NE concentrations affected mainly amino acid biosynthetic pathways (P &lt; 0.05). BET supplementation in R120-NE diet up-regulated serum BET levels and down-regulated homocysteine, DL-carnitine and four amino acid secondary metabolites (P &lt; 0.05). In conclusion, lowing dietary NE contents reduced the growth performance and caused metabolic abnormalities in growing pigs. However, BET decreased feed intake to a certain extent and improved the metabolic health of pigs fed low-NE diets, which may be related to the dual regulation of amino acid metabolism and the secretion of appetite related hormones by BET.

Background Yeast hydrolysate (YH) has attracted much attention as a nutritional additive, and it is generally considered to be non-toxic, effective and safe. However, there is still inconclusive on the effects of dietary YH supplementation on immunity function and intestinal barrier of piglets. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of YH supplementation on inflammatory responses and intestinal barrier in piglets challenged with lipopolysaccharide. Methods Twenty-four piglets (with an average body weight of 7.42 ± 0.34 kg) weaned at 21 days of age were randomly fed a diet containing 0 or 0.5% yeast hydrolysate for 21 days. On the 22nd day, half of piglets were intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide at 150 µg/kg BW, and the other half were injected with an equal volume of sterile normal saline. Four hours later, blood samples of each piglet were collected and then piglets were slaughtered. Results LPS injection increased serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, haptoglobin (HP), serum amyloid A protein (SAA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and diamine oxidase (DAO) (P < 0.05), decreased the jejunal villus height, the protein and mRNA abundances of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin (OCLN) (P < 0.05), enhanced the protein and mRNA abundances of TNF-α, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4) and phosphor-Nuclear factor-κB-p65 (p-NFκB-p65) (P < 0.01). Dietary YH supplementation attenuated the impaired effects of ACTH, cortisol, HP, IL-1β, and DAO in serum (P < 0.05). Furthermore, YH supplementation up-regulated the villus height, protein and mRNA abundances of ZO-1 and OCC (P < 0.05), downregulated TNF-α, IL-1β, TLR4 and p-NFκB-p65 mRNA expressions and the corresponding protein abundances in the jejunum in LPS-challenged pigs (P < 0.01). Conclusion YH could alleviate inflammatory response and intestinal barrier injury in weaned piglets challenged with LPS, which was associated with inhibited the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

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