Stimbiotic supplementation improved performance and reduced inflammatory response via stimulating fiber fermenting microbiome in weaner pigs housed in a poor sanitary environment and fed an antibiotic-free low zinc oxide diet

Abstract

This study investigated whether the inclusion of a stimbiotic (STB) can improve performance, influence intestinal microbiota and fermentation activity, and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines in piglets fed a low zinc oxide diet without antimicrobial growth promotors compared to fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) and mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) when housed either in good sanitary (GS) or poor sanitary (PS) environments. One hundred forty-four male pigs (28-day-old) were sorted by initial body weight (BW) and allocated to one of six experimental treatments: 1) GS environment without any additive (GS-CTR); 2) GS environment with 0.01% stimbiotic (GS-STB); 3) PS environment (without cleaning and disinfection of a previously populated room) without any additive (PS-CTR); 4) PS environment with 0.01% STB (PS-STB); 5) PS environment with 0.1% MOS (PS-MOS); and 6) PS environment with 0.2% FOS (PS-FOS). Each treatment had six replicates, with four animals each. Three feeding phases, based on corn, wheat, and soybean meal were available ad libitum for the 42-days of the study. Housing piglets under PS conditions negatively influenced performance, increased plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), affected the fecal microbial populations and increased concentrations of branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) compared to GS. Stimbiotic improved 42-d-BW under PS conditions (P < 0.05) whereas MOS or FOS had no effect. On d35, plasma TNF-α was reduced with STB in PS (P < 0.05). The ratio between VFA:BCFA increased (P < 0.05) with STB, MOS or FOS in PS, and under GS condition, STB also increased the ratio. Stimbiotic increased the proportion of Clostridiales Family XIII Incertae Sedis and Clostridiaceae, while MOS and FOS increased Selenomonadaceae, Catabacteriaceae and Fibrobacteraceae. These results indicate that STB shifted the intestinal microbiome to favor fiber fermentation which likely contributed to reduced inflammatory response and improved performance, particularly in piglets reared in PS conditions.

Effects of supplemental xylanase and xylooligosaccharides on production performance and gut health variables of broiler chickens

“…The XOS in this study was supplemented in low concentration that is not expected to produce sufficient SCFA, but the substantial increase in SCFA in response to XOS could be attributed to its priming of cecal microbiota for enhanced fermentation of selective substrates [ 1 ]. Recently, a term “stimbiotic” has been proposed to suggest the mechanism by which the oligosaccharides could influence the utilization of similar nutrients and their extraction from the diet by the gut microbiota [ 33 ]. It has been interpreted that while these oligosaccharides supplied in the diet or generated in situ in a small quantity are insufficient to contribute to a differentially high amount of SCFA production in the ceca of broilers, but it acts as a signaling molecule that stimulates the microbial adaptation to degrade dietary fiber sources [ 1 ].…”

Impact of zinc oxide, benzoic acid and probiotics on the performance and cecal microbiota of piglets

“…The use of a specific strain of Ligilactobacillus salivarius was associated with increased clostridia and lactobacilli species as well as greater production of volatile fatty acids [ 19 ]. The use of symbiotics (a combination of probiotics with prebiotics) have also been shown to benefit fibrolytic bacteria, improving performancing and reducing inflammation in pigls [ 18 ].…”

Effects of in ovo delivered xylo- and mannan- oligosaccharides on growth performance, intestinal immunity, cecal short-chain fatty acids, and cecal microbiota of broilers

“…However, in agreement with our findings, Yuan et al [ 32 ] also reported that the supplementation of XOS increased both acetate and butyrate in the ceca of broilers. In contrast with the effect of XOS3 on the ileal mucosa, its influence on the production of SCFA during the later growth phase of broilers infer to its ‘stimbiotic’ role on gut microbiota [ 33 ]. The variability in the fermentation characteristics of XOS could be reasonable because of the inconsistency in the composition of oligomer residues containing a different degree of polymerization.…”