The Impact of Weaning Stress on Gut Health and the Mechanistic Aspects of Several Feed Additives Contributing to Improved Gut Health Function in Weanling Piglets—A Review

Abstract

Newly weaned pig encounters psychosocial, physical, and nutritional stressors simultaneously when their immune system is not fully developed. These stressors have a cumulative effect on the immune response that contributes to the post-weaning growth lag which is characterized by depression in feed intake, reduced or negative growth rates, and increased susceptibility to pathogens in the first 24 to 48 h post-weaning. Consequently, the intestinal integrity, and digestive and absorptive capacity are impaired, and there is an increase in intestinal oxidative stress. It also causes the shifts in the taxonomic and functional properties of intestinal microbiome abruptly, thereby adversely affecting the health and performance of animals. It has been suggested that the effects of weaning stress on immune functions, intestinal barrier functions, and nervous system function in early weaned pigs extends into adulthood. The inclusion of different types of feed additives into the diet have been reported to alleviate the negative effects of weaning stress. The objective of this paper was to provide an overview on how the weaning stress affects gut health and the impact it has on production efficiencies, as well as the mechanistic aspects of several feed additives applied in reducing the weaning associated gut health problems and performance inefficiencies.

Dietary supplementation with potassium-magnesium sulfate modulates the antioxidant capacity, immunity, and gut microbiota in weaned piglets

“…economic losses in livestock husbandry (Upadhaya and Kim, 2021). We found that the addition of different doses of PMS linearly increased the ADFI and ADG, and significantly reduced the diarrhea rate of weaned piglets.…”

Dissecting the Effect of Berberine on the Intestinal Microbiome in the Weaned Piglets by Metagenomic Sequencing

“…Early weaning of piglets can shorten the slaughter cycle of pigs and improve the reproductive performance of sows. However, incomplete development of intestinal microbiota in early weaned piglets may lead to intestinal irritability and reduced production performance ( Moeser et al, 2017 ; Upadhaya and Kim, 2021 ). Antibiotics can improve the above conditions, but the problem of antibiotic residues needs to be addressed ( Yang et al, 2019 ).…”

Selenium-enriched Cardamine violifolia improves growth performance with potential regulation of intestinal health and antioxidant function in weaned pigs

“…Total methionine + cysteine 4 7.0 1 The basal diet was formulated in accordance with NRC (2012) requirements for all nutrients. 2 A compound acidifier including lactic acid and phosphoric acid, provided by Shanghai Aodeng Biotechnology Company, Shanghai, China.…”

“…Weaning is the most significant event in the life of pigs as they are subject to constant nutritional, psychological and environmental stresses during weaning, which can result in enormous economic losses to the swine industry. During the weanling period, stresses usually result in the perturbations in host physiology, and mucosal immune function with subsequent reduction in feed intake, occurrence of post-weaning diarrhea, and growth reduction in piglets ( 1 ). These metabolic disorders, induced by weanling stress, are associated with inflammatory response, and impairment of redox balance and intestinal health ( 2 , 3 ).…”

“…1 Data are means of 5 replicate pens of 12 pigs each replicate 2. Ctrl, control group; SS, sodium selenite; SEY, Se-enriched yeast, SEC, Se-enriched Cardamine violifolia; SEY+SEC, Se-enriched yeast + Se-enriched Cardamine violifolia.…”