Coated Zinc Oxide Improves Growth Performance of Weaned Piglets via Gut Microbiota

Abstract

Weaned piglets stayed in transitional stages of internal organ development and external environment change. The dual stresses commonly caused intestinal disorders followed by damaged growth performance and severe diarrhea. High dose of zinc oxide could improve production efficiency and alleviate disease status whereas caused serious environmental pollution. This research investigated if coated ZnO (C_ZnO) in low dose could replace the traditional dose of ZnO to improve the growth performance, intestinal function, and gut microbiota structures in the weaned piglets. A total of 126 cross-bred piglets (7.0 ± 0.5 kg body weight) were randomly allocated into three groups and fed a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with ZnO (2,000 mg Zn/kg) or C_ZnO (500 mg Zn/kg), respectively. The test lasted for 6 weeks. C_ZnO improved average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency, alleviated diarrhea, decreased the lactulose/mannitol ratio (L/M) in the urine, increased the ileal villus height, and upregulated the expression of Occludin in the ileal tissue and the effect was even better than a high concentration of ZnO. Importantly, C_ZnO also regulated the intestinal flora, enriching Streptococcus and Lactobacillus and removing Bacillus and intestinal disease-associated pathogens, including Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 and Cronobacter in the ileal lumen. Although, colonic microbiota remained relatively stable, the marked rise of Blautia, a potential probiotic related to body health, could still be found. In addition, C_ZnO also led to a significant increase of acetate and propionate in both foregut and hindgut. Collectively, a low concentration of C_ZnO could effectively promote growth performance and reduce diarrhea through improving small intestinal morphology and permeability, enhancing the barrier function, adjusting the structure of gut microbiota, and raising the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the weaned piglets.

The Effect of Sodium Alginate-Coated Nano-Zinc Oxide on the Growth Performance, Serum Indexes and Fecal Microbial Structure of Weaned Piglets

“…Liu et al also reported that early supplementation with ZnO increased the relative abundances of Subdoligranulum compared with the CON group in pre-weaned dairy calves [51]. ZnO treatment raised the abundance of Intestinibacter [6], which was in line with our study. Another study demonstrated that two alternatives' addition in dairy cows improved immune functions and the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae, Monoglobaceae and Butyricicoccaceae in their feces [52], whereas our results showed that Zn supplementation enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes, but reduced the relative proportions of Butyricicoccaceae, Monoglobaceae and Lachnospiraceae.…”

Wickerhamomyces anomalus relieves weaning diarrhea via improving gut microbiota and redox homeostasis using a piglet model

“…Lactobacillus is a probiotic that improves gut health via a range of routes, including pathogen suppression, immunological regulation, and inflammation reduction. 17 In the present investigation, the population of Lactobacillus was significantly increased in feces, possibly because polysaccharides in the yeast cell wall stimulate the proliferation of Lactobacillus in the intestine. Moreover, lactic acid, the primary metabolite of Lactobacillus , has a crucial function in the proliferation of intestinal stem cells, which might mitigate the negative effects of stress-induced intestinal damage on the host.…”

“…The diarrhea incidence of piglets was recorded based on a pen following the previous report in this trial. 17 About 300 g fecal samples from each pen were collected on days 25, 26 and 27 of the trial, and then each pen's fecal samples were mixed up before drying. All experimental diets and fecal samples were placed in an oven, gradually heated up to 65 °C for 72 h and then smashed to pass through a 1.0 mm mesh screen for further analysis.…”

Effects of zinc oxide and condensed tannins on the growth performance and intestinal health of weaned piglets in ETEC-challenged environment

“…But the villi height of the ileum was decreased in ZnO + CT group, compared with ZnO group. In addition, previous studies have shown that coated ZnO can improve ileum villus height ( Sun et al, 2022 ). This may be due to the interaction between ZnO and CT. Liu et al found that hydrolyzed tannin increased the villus height of ileum, which was inconsistent with our results.…”