Effects of dietary red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) on growth performance, blood profile, ileal morphology, and oxidative status in weaned pigs challenged with Escherichia coli K88⁺

Abstract

Twenty-eight piglets weaned at 21 days of age (6.94 ± 0.28 kg of body weight) were assigned to one of four dietary treatments for 14 days: 1) negative control (NC; a corn-wheat-soybean meal-based diet), 2) positive control (PC; NC + 0.025% antimicrobial growth promoter [AGP]), 3) ROD2 (2% red-osier dogwood [ROD]), and 4) ROD4 (4% ROD). All pigs were orally inoculated with Escherichia coli K88+ on day 8. The pre-planned orthogonal test was performed to compare 1) NC vs. PC and 2) NC vs. ROD. The inclusion of ROD in a nursery diet increased (P < 0.05) superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and decreased (P < 0.05) malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in the serum. Moreover, pigs fed with ROD diets had shallower (P < 0.05) crypt depth and higher (P < 0.05) villus height to crypt depth ratio than those fed the NC diet. Dietary AGP supplementation reduced (P < 0.05) the MDA concentration in the ileum and serum at 24 h after challenge and improved (P < 0.01) the SOD activities in the serum. In conclusion, the inclusion of ROD in a nursery diet enhanced the antioxidative defense system and intestinal morphology, showing comparable effects with AGP supplementation.

Phytochemical-induced mucin accumulation in the gastrointestinal lumen is independent of the microbiota

“…The inclusion of polyphenols in diet at 0.4% in this study appears safe, as no change in body weight was documented throughout the two-week dietary intervention. This is in accordance with previous studies that show that similar amounts of phytochemicals in diets do not negatively impact growth, and may even improve it (12,16). Despite being quite different with regards to phenolic compound composition, the PA and DW diets both led to increased fecal mucin, suggesting that flavan-3-ol condense tannins from peas, beans or fruit are not unique in their ability to increase fecal mucin (12,30,31).…”

“…A study in pigs with a lower inclusion rate of 0.5% ROD extract showed no effect on ileal microbial alpha diversity (Shannon and Simpson) but a prebiotic effect on Lactobacillus species was noted along with no change to growth performance (33). A study in weaned pigs challenged with Escherichia coli k88+ found that 2% and 4% ROD extract diets conferred beneficial effects on growth performance; however, microbial composition was not assessed (16). Phylogenetic diversity in the DW group was maintained at day 14, which could be explained by the increased abundance of Akkermansia municiphila , Parasutterella and Turicibacter, which only appeared in this DW group at day 14 and were not detected in any group at day 0.…”

“…Control and PA diet groups included two male and two female mice housed separately to determine if sex plays role in the fecal mucin phenotype, previously identified in female mice only (12). The spray-dried ROD extract (Red Dog Enterprises Ltd., Winnipeg, MB, Canada) was added to the dogwood (DW) diet at 4% as done in previous studies (16). ROD extracts can contain bioactive phenolic compounds at 4% to 22% depending on the season (17).…”

“…In addition, we tested how the non-hydrolysable PA diet compares to a hydrolysable red-osier dogwood (ROD; Cornus sericea) extract on fecal mucin and microbial communities when fed to conventional mice. ROD extracts have been shown in pig models to improve feed efficiency and promote gut resistance to invading pathogens (16); however, the underlying mechanism is poorly understood and possibly driven by changes to the mucus layer. The identification of mucin-degrading bacteria and their impact on the gut niche environment in response to dietary phytochemicals will help determine their contribution to gut ecology and health.…”

Effect of red osier dogwood extract on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters, and gut functionality of broiler chickens challenged or unchallenged intraperitoneally with Salmonella Enteritidis lipopolysaccharide

“…Similar to the antibiotic and control treatments, dietary supplementation of ROD extract did not influence the serum TAP and SOD of broiler chickens challenged or unchallenged with SE -LPS. Antimicrobial growth promoters have been used to improve antioxidant status of weaned pigs ( Koo et al., 2020 ). The result obtained in the current study suggests that supplementation of ROD extract maintained TAP and SOD in the same capacity of antibiotics.…”