Astragalus and Ginseng Polysaccharides Improve Developmental, Intestinal Morphological, and Immune Functional Characters of Weaned Piglets

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a major issue in animal industries and antibiotic-free alternatives are needed to treat infectious diseases and improve performance of pigs. Plant extracts have been suggested as a potential solution. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Astragalus polysaccharides (Aps) and ginseng polysaccharide (Gps) on growth performance, intestinal morphology, immune function, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and microfloral community in weaned piglets. A total of 180 weaned piglets were randomly divided into three treatment groups during a 28-days feeding experiment, including a basal diet (Con), basal diet supplemented with 800 mg/kg Aps (Aps), and basal diet supplemented with 800 mg/kg Gps (Gps). Results showed that both Aps and Gps increased body weight, average daily gain and feed conversion rate, and reduced the rate of diarrhea. Gps also decreased aspartate aminotransferase compared to the Con piglets after 14 days. No significant effects on alanine aminotransferase were observed. Both Aps and Gps piglets exhibited higher serum immunoglobulin M levels after 14 and 28 days, and also decreased jejunal crypt depth, increased jejunal villus length and villus height/crypt depth ratio, and increased expression of toll-like receptor 4, myeloid differentiation primary response 88, nuclear factor-kappa B proteins in the jejunum. Aps and Gps piglets also had higher concentrations of acetic acid, isobutyric acid, and butyrate in their colon. Data of high-throughput sequencing revealed that Aps and Gps affected bacterial quantity and diversity in the colon. Species richness and evenness were higher in both Aps and Gps piglets than the control piglets. Aps and Gps piglets also had a higher relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Anaerostipes , and the Aps piglets had a higher relative abundance of Lactobacillus gasseri and L. amylovorus . Therefore, dietary supplementation with Aps and Gps could be beneficial for optimizing the performance of industry pigs and reducing dependence on antibiotics. Furthermore, Plant polysaccharides play a great role in promoting the sustainable development of animal husbandry.

Effects of Astragalus polysaccharides on intestinal morphology and intestinal immune cells of Muscovy ducklings infected with Muscovy duck reovirus

“…The result was similar to the previous studies, which reported that APS could possess immunomodulating effect by increasing jejunal villus length and V/C ratio to maintain intestinal integrity of chickens ( Wang et al., 2015 ; Shan et al., 2019 ). The result is in agreement with another report on weaned piglets whose jejunal villus length and V/C ratio was enhanced on feeding APS-supplemented diets ( Yang et al., 2019 ). Similarly, piglets fed with APS had increased jejunal villus length ( Wang et al., 2019 ).…”

Ginseng Extract Ameliorates the Negative Physiological Effects of Heat Stress by Supporting Heat Shock Response and Improving Intestinal Barrier Integrity: Evidence from Studies with Heat-Stressed Caco-2 Cells, C. elegans and Growing Broilers

“…The presented results for growing broilers show that, compared with no supplementation and the betaine positive control, ginseng extract improved body weight gain by ameliorating FCR under heat stress. Previous results describing the effect of ginseng extract on laying hens and weaned piglets are consistent with our findings [29,30]. Dietary supplementation of a red ginseng by-product significantly increased hen-day egg production, numerically increased egg weight and improved FCR [29].…”

“…Dietary supplementation of a red ginseng by-product significantly increased hen-day egg production, numerically increased egg weight and improved FCR [29]. Yang et al reported significantly higher final body weight, a better feed utilization rate, and a lower incidence of diarrhea in weaned piglets fed ginseng polysaccharides than in control piglets [30].…”

Effects of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide in diet on growth performance, serum antioxidant capacity, and biochemistry of broilers

“…(2015) demonstrated that dietary supplementation with polysaccharide from mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis improves the BWG and health of pacific white shrimp. Also, Yang et al (2019a) reported that both Astragalus polysaccharide and ginseng polysaccharide improves the ADG and FCR and reduced diarrhea rate of piglets. In poultry, polysaccharides were shown to positively influence growth performance ( Guo et al., 2004 ; Abdullahi et al., 2016 ; Ao and Kim, 2020 ), but this finding was not confirmed by Chen et al.…”