Background: Impaired gut microbiota leads to pathogenic bacteria infection, pro-inflammatory response and postweaning diarrhea. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 is a major cause of post-weaning diarrhea in weaned piglets. Fermented soybean meal (FSBM) could relieve diarrhea, alleviate inflammatory response, and modulate gut microbiota of weaned piglets. We used ETEC K88-challenged weaned piglet model to investigate the effects of FSBM on the growth performance, inflammatory response and cecal microbiota. Twenty-four crossbred piglets (6.8 ± 0.5 kg; 21 ± 2 days of age) were allotted into 2 treatment fed the diets with or without FSBM (6% at the expense of soybean meal). Six weaned piglets in each diet treatment were challenged by ETEC K88 (1 × 10 9 CFU/ piglets) on day 15. The experimental period lasted for 20 days.

Ferulic acid (FA) has been regarded as an antioxidant in domestic animals’ feed. This study was to investigate whether dietary FA supplementation could improve growth performance by decreasing oxidative stress of lambs in cold environment. Thirty-two 3-mo-old crossbred male lambs (Dorper × Small-tail Han sheep; 30.49 ± 0.46 kg) were randomly assigned into one of the following dietary treatments: CON (control, no FA), FA80 (80 mg FA kg−1 of diet), FA400 (400 mg FA kg−1 of diet), and FA2000 (2000 mg FA kg−1 of diet). Lambs fed the FA80 had higher (P < 0.05) average daily gain and lower (P < 0.05) feed efficiency than those fed CON and FA2000. The dry matter, organic matter, and neutral detergent fiber apparent digestibility was lower (P < 0.05) for FA2000 lambs than for lambs from other treatments. Serum total protein and albumin concentrations were greater (P < 0.05) for FA80 group than other groups. Lambs fed FA80 had higher (P < 0.05) plasma glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities and lower (P < 0.05) malondialdehyde (MDA) content than lambs fed CON. However, FA2000 group showed higher (P < 0.05) plasma MDA content than CON group. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of 80 mg FA kg−1 diet could improve growth performance by decreasing oxidative stress of lambs in cold environment.

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BACKGROUND Feruloyl oligosaccharides (FOs), the ferulic acid ester of oligosaccharides, may possess the physiological functions of both ferulic acid and oligosaccharides, including antioxidative activity and gut microbiota modulation capacity. The present study aimed to investigate whether FOs could regulate the intestinal antioxidative capacity of rats by modulating the MAPKs/Nrf2 signaling pathway and gut microbiota. Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups. Rats received a standard diet and were gavaged once daily with 0.85% normal saline, 100 mg kg−1 body weight vitamin C or FOs solution at doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg kg−1 body weight for 21 days. RESULTS FOs strengthened the antioxidative capacity of the jejunum, as indicated by increased in contents of catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, as well as glutathione. Moreover, FOs administration upregulated the mRNA expression level of antioxidant‐related genes (glutamate‐cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, glutamate‐cysteine ligase modifier subunit and heme oxygenase‐1) in the jejunum. Increases in phosphorylation levels of Nrf2, p38 and JNK were also observed. Administration with 40 mg kg−1 FOs altered the structure and composition of the cecal microbiota, which was indicated by the increased the relative abundances of Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteriota, and the decreased the relative abundances of Firmicutes, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Blautia. Furthermore, Spearman correlation analysis revealed that the altered cecal microbiota closely correlated with jejunal antioxidative capacity of rats. CONCLUSION FOs could be used as an antioxidant for gut heath improvement through modulating the p38/JNK‐Nrf2 signaling pathway and gut microbiota. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

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