Trace Mineral Supplementation for the Intestinal Health of Young Monogastric Animals

Abstract

Growth performance and feed efficiency are essential parameters when evaluating profitability of livestock. However, animal performance does not always reflect optimal gut health. Decades of research have supported the theory that improved animal performance such as average daily gain and feed efficiency can be impacted by intestinal health or the ability of the intestinal mucosa to absorb nutrients, but dysfunction may be found when the animal is stressed. Most of the early research focused on enteric infections causing diarrhea and nutritional alternatives to antibiotics which has led to findings related to pharmacological supplementation of trace minerals above the nutrient requirements for non-ruminants. While pharmacological concentrations of copper (Cu) have been shown to enhance growth, the mechanism in the gut is elusive. High concentrations of zinc (Zn) fed to newly weaned nursery pigs reduced the incidence of diarrhea from the proliferation of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Clostridium and improve gut morphology. There are numerous publications where pharmacological supplementation of Zn as zinc oxide (ZnO) were fed to newly weaned pigs. Pharmacological Zn has been reported to shape the intestinal microflora as well as the diversity of the microflora during the first 2 weeks post-weaning. Both Fe deficiency and fortification impact bacterial growth in the intestine. Therefore, this paper will focus on the role of trace minerals that potentially impact optimal gut health of young monogastric animals.

Effectiveness of Two Plant-Based In-Feed Additives against an Escherichia coli F4 Oral Challenge in Weaned Piglets

“…The amount of naringin flavonoid was calculated by external calibration of reference standard of naringin and expressed as naringin. Quantification of salicylic derivatives content was made using HPLC (Agilent (Santa Clara, CA, USA), 1260 series, U.S.A.) according to the European Pharmacopoeia Monograph of Willow bark (01/2013:1583) [17]. The amount of salicylic derivatives was calculated by external calibration of reference standard of salicin and expressed as salicin.…”

“…Thus, following the hypothesis that it is possible to improve the response of piglets to weaning and to reduce the incidence of post-weaning diarrhea by including phytogenic blends in the diet as an alternative to antimicrobials, the objective of the present study was to evaluate, in weaned piglets, the potential of two plant-based in-feed additives in front of an oral ETEC F4 challenge, analyzing their effects on performance, clinical response, immune system, and gut health. For that, we compared two diets supplemented with different phytogenic blends with a non-supplemented diet and a diet including pharmacological levels of ZnO as a positive control considering its largely known efficacy to prevent post-weaning colibacillosis [17].…”

Effects of mineral methionine hydroxy analog chelate in sow diets on epigenetic modification and growth of progeny

“…Therefore, reduced expression of MUC2 in piglets from sows fed a diet with MMHAC could also indicate that nutrients to make mucin could be saved potentially directing more nutrients for the growth of their piglets. Previous studies showed that chelated mineral sources can regulate intestinal inflammatory response ( Liao et al, 2018 ; Shannon and Hill, 2019 ). The intestinal inflammatory response can be caused by various stimuli, such as viral antigen, bacteria invasion, cytokines, stress, and free radicals.…”

“…Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), and Copper (Cu) are essential minerals for the embryonic and fetal development ( Hostetler et al, 2003 ). Previous studies also showed that these trace minerals had key functional involvements in the intestinal immune system ( Shannon and Hill, 2019 ) and muscle growth ( Zhao et al, 2014 ) of pigs. Zinc enhanced intestinal barrier function with improved gene expression of claudin-1 and occludin in broiler chicken ( Zhang et al, 2012 ).…”

Measures Matter—Determining the True Nutri-Physiological Value of Feed Ingredients for Swine

“…Furthermore, understanding the functional properties of ingredients and nutrients can improve the likelihood and potential magnitude of positive growth and health responses, while avoiding antagonistic effects when selecting and adding various feed additives to swine diets. [341,342] One of the most interesting but underexplored health promoting components of feed ingredients are the many naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds in feed ingredients. Several phenolic compounds are associated with DF in many plant-based foods and feeds, which have potent antioxidant and reactive oxygen species scavenging properties that provide protection against oxidative damage [369].…”