Effects of dietary tributyrin and physterol ester supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota and metabolites in weaned piglets

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary tributyrin (TB) and physterol ester (PSE) supplementation on the growth performance and intestinal health of weaned piglets.

Methods and results: Ninety-six piglets were randomly allocated to one of four groups, including a control group (basal diet), TB group (basal diet + 1500 g t^-1 TB), PSE group (basal diet + 300 g t^-1 PSE) and TB + PSE group (basal diet + 1500 g t^-1 TB + 300 g t^-1 PSE). All groups had eight replicates with three piglets per replicate. The experiment lasted for 28 days. The results showed that dietary TB supplementation increased (p < 0.05) average daily feed intake and average daily gain, as well as the acetate and butyrate concentration in ileum, and dietary PSE supplementation decreased (p < 0.05) the ratio of feed to gain (F/G) on days 1-14 of the trial. Dietary TB or PSE alone supplementation improved the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (VH/CD) and the expression level of Occludin in ileum. The linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis identified eight biomarkers in the control group, 18 in the TB + PSE group, two in the PSE group in ileum respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the relative abundances of Enterococcus, and Streptococcus were positively correlated (p < 0.05) with propionate concentration, while the relative abundance of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with acetate concentration in ileum.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that dietary TB or PSE alone supplementation could alter the growth performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota community and metabolites of weaned piglets.

Significance and impact of the study: Weaning stress is a major cause of slow growth and increased diarrhoea in piglets. This study demonstrated that dietary TB and PSE presented a beneficial role in growth performance and gut health via regulating intestinal morphology, microbiota composition and metabolites.

Keywords: gut microbiota and metabolites; intestinal morphology; physterol esters; tributyrin; weaned piglets.