Impact of chicory inclusion in a cereal-based diet on digestibility, organ size and faecal microbiota in growing pigs

Abstract

A total of 30 7-week-old pigs were used to evaluate the effects of chicory inclusion on digestibility, digestive organ size and faecal microbiota. Five diets were formulated: a cereal-based control diet and four diets with inclusion of 80 and 160 g/kg chicory forage (CF80 and CF160), 80 g/kg chicory root (CR80) and a mix of 80 g/kg forage and 80 g/kg chicory root (CFR). Generally, the pigs showed a high growth rate and feed intake, and no differences between the different diets were observed. The coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of energy, organic matter and CP did not differ between the control and CF80, whereas they were impaired in diet CF160. The CTTAD of non-starch polysaccharides and especially the uronic acids were higher (P , 0.05) with chicory inclusion, with highest (P , 0.05) values for diet CF160. Coliform counts were lower and lactobacilli : coliform ratio was higher (P , 0.05) in diet CFR than in the control. Global microbial composition was investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism combined with cloning and sequencing. Analysis of gut microbiota pattern revealed two major clusters where diet CF160 differed from the control and CR80 diet. Chicory forage diets were correlated with an increased relative abundance of one species related to Prevotella and decreased abundance of two other species related to Prevotella. For diet CFR, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus johnsonii was higher than in the other diets. This study shows that both chicory forage and root can be used as fibre sources in pig nutrition and that they modulate the composition of the gut microbiota differently.

Fermentable non-starch polysaccharides increases the abundance of Bacteroides–Prevotella–Porphyromonas in ileal microbial community of growing pigs

“…The T-RFLP analysis showed that CFO increased species related to Prevotellacea in feces, and the results were confirmed with the qPCR analysis. The results are in contrast with previous studies where CFO was included in diets to growing pigs (Ivarsson et al, 2012a;Liu et al, 2012). In those studies, species related to Prevotella decreased in abundance with inclusion of CFO.…”

“…The TRF profile for each pig was based on two T-RFLP profiles; only peaks that occurred in both replicates were used for analysis. Subsequently, TRFs of interests were identified using sequence data of corresponding TRFs obtained from previous studies (Ivarsson et al, 2012a;Liu et al, 2012).…”

Expression of heat shock proteins 27 and 72 correlates with specific commensal microbes in different regions of porcine gastrointestinal tract

“…Chicory pectin, a specific dietary component, appears to contribute to HSP expression in the porcine gut. Coupled with our previous findings on interactions between dietary chicory fiber and gut microbiota community composition in young pigs (24,29), we have gained a better understanding of the host-microbe interactions that shape the immune system. Further elucidation of the complex networking involved may allow precise manipulations of gut health to be achieved by dietary intervention.…”

“…In previous studies, we showed that inclusion of chicory forage and root in a cereal-based diet alters the pig gut microenvironment due to variations in chemical composition of the dietary fiber, highlighting the importance of chicory pectin, inulin-type fructan, and cereal arabinoxylan content (24,29). Therefore daily ingestion of different fiber fractions by pigs was evaluated in the present study (Table 3).…”

“…In diets with chicory forage and root meal inclusion, the cereal mixture was substituted on an air-dry basis. To calculate daily dietary energy and fiber intake, the chemical composition and gross energy of the feed ingredients were analyzed on a dry matter (DM) basis as described previously (24). The pigs were weighed on days 0, 7, 14, and 18, and feed intake was recorded daily.…”