Effects of Lacticaseibacillus casei (Lactobacillus casei) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae mixture on growth performance, hematological parameters, immunological responses, and intestinal microbiome in weaned pigs

Sheena Kim; Jinok Kwak; Minho Song; Jinho Cho; Eun Sol Kim; Gi Beom Keum; Hyunok Doo; Sriniwas Pandey; Jae Hyoung Cho; Sumin Ryu; San Kim; Yu-Mi Im; Hyeun Bum Kim

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1140718

Effects of Lacticaseibacillus casei (Lactobacillus casei) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae mixture on growth performance, hematological parameters, immunological responses, and intestinal microbiome in weaned pigs

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jun 12:10:1140718. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1140718. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sheena Kim¹, Jinok Kwak¹, Minho Song², Jinho Cho³, Eun Sol Kim¹, Gi Beom Keum¹, Hyunok Doo¹, Sriniwas Pandey¹, Jae Hyoung Cho¹, Sumin Ryu¹, San Kim⁴, Yu-Mi Im⁵, Hyeun Bum Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Resources Science, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.
² Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
³ Division of Food and Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea.
⁴ BRD Korea Corp., Hwaseong, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Nursing, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Introduction: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Lacticaseibacillus casei (Lactobacillus casei) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae mixture on growth performance, hematological parameters, immunological responses, and gut microbiome in weaned pigs.

Methods: A total of 300 crossbred pigs [(Landrace × Yorkshire] × Duroc; 8.87 ± 0.34 kg of average initial body weight [BW]; 4 weeks of age) were divided into two dietary treatments (15 pigs/pen, 10 replicates/treatment) using a randomized complete block design (block = BW): control (CON) and the effective microorganism (MEM). The CON was not treated, while the MEM was treated with the mixture of L. casei (1 × 10⁷ CFU/mL) and S. cerevisiae (1 × 10⁷ CFU/mL) at 3 mL/pig/day for 4 weeks via the drinking water supply. Two feces and one blood sample from the randomly selected pigs in each pen were collected on D1 and D28 after weaning. Pigs were individually weighed, and pen feed intakes were recorded to evaluate pig growth performance. For the gut microbiome analysis, 16S rRNA gene hypervariable regions (V5 to V6) were sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq platform, and Quantitative Insight into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) and Microbiome Helper pipeline were used for 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.

Results and discussion: The daily weight gain and feed efficiency of MEM were significantly higher than those of CON (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in hematological parameters and immune responses between CON and MEM. However, MEM had significantly lower Treponema genus, whereas significantly higher Lactobacillus and Roseburia genera compared to CON. Overall, our data showed that L. casei and S. cerevisiae mixture could promote growth performance through the modulation of gut microbiota in pigs. This study will help to understand the correlation between the growth performance and the gut microbiome.

Keywords: growth performance; gut microbiome; hematology; mixed effective microorganisms; weanling pigs.