Can environmental nebulization of lavender essential oil (L. angustifolia) improve welfare and modulate nasal microbiota of growing pigs?

The use of phytoextracts has been proposed as a method to improve animal welfare, also in pigs, by reducing stress and anxiety and improving performances. Lavandula angustifolia (Miller) essential oil (LaEO) is an interesting calming phytoextract that could be administered by inhalation for prolonged periods of time to help pigs coping with on-farm conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of daily inhalation of vaporized LaEO on pigs' welfare and health indicators, and nasal microbiota, trying to understand whether this phytoextract represents a feasible tool to improve animal welfare under intensive farming conditions. Eighty-four crossbred barrows were randomly divided into 3 experimental groups: control (C); lavender (L): 3 vaporization sessions of 10 min each of a custom made 1% solution of LaEO; sham (S): same vaporization sessions of L group but only using the solution vehicle. Experimental readouts included growth parameters, behavioural traits, tail and skin lesions, hair steroids and nasal microbiota. L group animals did not show altered growth performance and seemed calmer (increased recumbency time), with decreased amount of skin lesions also associated with lower severity class for tail lesions. They also showed decreased CORT/DHEA ratio, potentially suggesting a beneficial effect of LaEO. Inhalation of LaEO significantly affected the nasal pig microbiome by reducing its diversity. Overall, the study suggests how inhalation of Lavender essential oil may be capable of improving welfare in growing pigs, yet it is pivotal to consider the microbial modulatory capabilities of essential oils before exploiting them on larger scale.

Insight into the long-term impact of birth weight on intestinal development, microbial settlement, and the metabolism of weaned piglets.

Infant mortality of low birth body weight (LBBW) piglets can reach 10% and is mainly due to gut and immune system immaturity which can lead to a higher risk in the long term. This study aimed to assess the impact of birth body weight (BBW) on piglet metabolism, gut status, and microbial profile from weaning to 21 d postweaning. At birth, 32 piglets were selected for their BBW and inserted into the normal BBW (NBBW:1.38 ±â€…0.09 g) or the LBBW (0.92 ±â€…0.07 g) group. The piglets were weighed weekly from weaning (d0) to d21. At d9 and d21, 8 piglets/group were slaughtered to obtain the distal jejunum for morphology, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression analysis, colon content for microbiota and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) analysis, and intestinal content for pH measurement. Blood was collected for metabolomic, haptoglobin (Hp), and reactive oxygen metabolite (ROM) analysis. The LBBW group had a lower body weight (BW) throughout the study (P < 0.01), a lower average daily gain from d9-d21 (P = 0.002), and lower feed intake (P = 0.02). The LBBW piglets had lower Hp at d9 (P = 0.03), higher ROMs at d21 (P = 0.06), and a net alteration of the amino acid (AA) metabolism at d9 and d21. A higher expression of NFKB2 was observed in the LBBW piglets at d9 (P = 0.003) and d21 (P < 0.001). MYD88 expression was enhanced in NBBW piglets at d9 (P < 0.001). The LBBW piglets had a lower villus height, absorptive mucosal surface (P = 0.01), and villus height:crypt depth ratio (P = 0.02), and a greater number of T-lymphocytes in both the epithelium and the crypts (P < 0.001) at d21. At d21, the LBBW piglets had higher lactic acid, acetate, butyrate, and valerate, and also higher SCFA in the colon (P < 0.05). The LBBW piglets had a higher Shannon index (P = 0.01) at d9 and a higher abundance of SCFA-fermenting bacteria. In conclusion, the present study confirmed that LBBW could impact the gut mucosal structure, immunity, and inflammatory and oxidative status, leading to an altered AA metabolism, and delaying the recovery from weaning.

The drawback of the high prolificacy selection in the swine industry in the past decades is an increase in the number of piglets born with a low birth body weight (LBBW). This study aimed to assess performance, metabolism, gut status, and microbial profile in piglets born with low (0.92 ±â€…0.07 g) and normal birth body weight (1.38 ±â€…0.09 g). Piglets were weighed weekly from weaning (25 d) until 3 weeks postweaning (end of the trial). At d9 and d21, 8 piglets/group were slaughtered to obtain blood for metabolomic, haptoglobin, reactive oxygen metabolite analyses, colon content for microbiota and short-chain fatty acid, intestinal content for pH measurement, distal jejunum for morphology, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression. The LBBW resulted in lower body weight through the study (P < 0.001), lower average daily gain from d9 to d21 (P = 0.002), and lower feed intake (P = 0.02). The LBBW piglets had a lower villus height, absorptive mucosal surface (P = 0.01), and villus height:crypt depth ratio (P = 0.02), and a greater number of T-lymphocytes in both the epithelium and the crypts (P < 0.001) at d21. In conclusion, the present study confirmed that LBBW could impact the gut mucosal structure, immunity, and inflammatory and oxidative status, leading to an altered AA metabolism, and delaying the recovery from weaning.

Productive and physiological implications of top-dress addition of branched-chain amino acids and arginine on lactating sows and offspring.

BACKGROUND: Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), including L-leucine (L-Leu), L-isoleucine (L-Ile), L-valine (L-Val), and L-arginine (L-Arg), play a crucial role in mammary gland development, secretion of milk and regulation of the catabolic state and immune response of lactating sows. Furthermore, it has recently been suggested that free amino acids (AAs) can also act as microbial modulators. This study aimed at evaluating whether the supplementation of lactating sows with BCAAs (9, 4.5 and 9 g/d/sow of L-Val, L-Ile and L-Leu, respectively) and/or L-Arg (22.5 g/d/sow), above the estimated nutritional requirement, could influence the physiological and immunological parameters, microbial profile, colostrum and milk composition and performance of sows and their offspring. RESULTS: At d 41, piglets born from the sows supplemented with the AAs were heavier (P = 0.03). The BCAAs increased glucose and prolactin (P < 0.05) in the sows' serum at d 27, tended to increase immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgM in the colostrum (P = 0.06), increased the IgA (P = 0.004) in the milk at d 20 and tended to increase lymphocyte% in the sows' blood at d 27 (P = 0.07). Furthermore, the BCAAs tended to reduce the Chao1 and Shannon microbial indices (P < 0.10) in the sows' faeces. The BCAA group was discriminated by Prevotellaceae_UCG-004, Erysipelatoclostridiaceae UCG-004, the Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group and Treponema berlinense. Arginine reduced piglet mortality pre- (d 7, d 14) and post-weaning (d 41) (P < 0.05). Furthermore, Arg increased the IgM in the sow serum at d 10 (P = 0.05), glucose and prolactin (P < 0.05) in the sow serum at d 27 and the monocyte percentage in the piglet blood at d 27 (P = 0.025) and their jejunal expression of NFKB2 (P = 0.035) while it reduced the expression of GPX-2 (P = 0.024). The faecal microbiota of the sows in Arg group was discriminated by Bacteroidales. The combination of BCAAs and Arg tended to increase spermine at d 27 (P = 0.099), tended to increase the Igs (IgA and IgG, P < 0.10) at d 20 in the milk, favoured the faecal colonisation of Oscillospiraceae UCG-005 and improved piglet growth. CONCLUSION: Feeding Arg and BCAAs above the estimated requirements for milk production may be a strategy to improve sow productive performance in terms of piglet average daily gain (ADG), immune competence and survivability via modulation of the metabolism, colostrum and milk compositions and intestinal microbiota of the sows. The synergistic effect between these AAs, noticeable by the increase of Igs and spermine in the milk and in the improvement of the performance of the piglets, deserves additional investigation.

Supplementation of mixed doses of glutamate and glutamine can improve the growth and gut health of piglets during the first 2 weeks post-weaning.

The aim of this study was to test the effect of mixing doses of glutamate (Glu) and glutamine (Gln) on the growth, health and gut health of post-weaning piglets. One hundred twenty weaned piglets (24 ± 2 days of age) were assigned to 6 dietary groups: (1) standard diet (CO); (2) CO plus Glu (6 kg/Ton): 100Glu; (3) CO plus 75Glu + 25Gln; (4) CO plus 50Glu + 50Gln; (5) CO plus 25Glu + 75Gln and (6) CO plus 100Gln. At days 8 and 21, blood was collected for haematological and reactive oxygen metabolite analysis, intestinal mucosa for morphological and gene expression analysis, and caecal content for microbial analysis. Data were fitted using a Generalised Linear Model (GLM). Piglet growth increased linearly with an increase in Gln from d7 to d14. The Glu:Gln ratio had a quadratic effect on faecal consistency and days of diarrhoea, neutrophil% and lymphocyte%, and a positive linear effect on monocyte% in the blood at d8. The amino acids (AAs) reduced the intraepithelial lymphocytes in the jejunum, and 100Gln improved intestinal barrier integrity at d8. The caecal microbiota did not differ. Overall, this study suggested a favourable effect of mixing Glu and Gln (25 + 75-50 + 50) as a dietary supplementation in post-weaning piglets to benefit the immune and barrier function of the gut, resulting in an increase in faecal consistency and improvement of growth during the first 2 weeks post-weaning.

Influence of Chlorella vulgaris on growth, digestibility and gut morphology and microbiota of weaned piglet.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Chlorella vulgaris (5% in the diet), supplemented or not with two exogenous carbohydrase mixtures on piglets' performance, nutrient digestibility and gut morphology, fermentation products and microbiota. Forty-four male piglets weaned at 28 days of age, with 11.2 ± 0.46 kg of live weight, were used and assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments: cereal and soybean meal based-diet (control, n = 11), control diet with 5% of C. vulgaris (CH, n = 10), CH diet supplemented with 0.005% of Rovabio® Excel AP (CH + R, n = 10) and CH diet supplemented with 0.01% of a recombinant 4-carbohydrase mixture (CH + M, n = 11). Growth performance was not changed by the of C. vulgaris inclusion during 21 days of trial. However, total tract apparent digestibility of nutritional fractions was negatively impacted by the inclusion. In addition, the viscosity of duodenum plus jejunum contents slightly increased in all groups fed with the microalga. In contrast, dietary microalga increased duodenum villus height and promoted a healthier gut microbiota, with higher abundance of some specific bacterial taxa (Colidextribacter, Oscillospira and Lactobacillus). This study indicates that the dietary inclusion of 5% C. vulgaris improves piglets' gut health without impairing performance. Data also indicate that C. vulgaris reduces nutrient digestibility but promotes compensatory developments of gut mucosa and prebiotic effects. Dietary supplementation with exogenous carbohydrases does not seem to be necessary for this inclusion level. Therefore, the incorporation of CH as a sustainable feed ingredient in piglets' nutrition is a viable alternative approach.

Comparación de la resistencia de tres sistemas cerámicos en tramos protésicos fijos anteriores: análisis por elementos finitos / Comparison of the resistance of three ceramic systems in anterior fixed prosthetic segments: a finite element analysis

Introducción: el propósito de este estudio fue evaluar mediante el método de elementos finitos, la distribución de los esfuerzos en prótesis parcial fija (PPF) de tres unidades en la zona anterior, elaborados en tres sistemas cerámicos con diferentes variaciones en los conectores. Métodos: se modelaron cuatro tramos de PPF; tres de estos representaron los sistemas cerámicos: disilicato de litio, alúmina y circona y un cuarto modelo de disilicato de litio con un conector de 9 mm2 de área. Las variables incluidas en el modelado fueron el módulo de elasticidad, la razón de Poisson y el último esfuerzo tensil. Se aplicó una carga inicial de 200 N hasta los 1000 N y fueron calculados los esfuerzos de von Mises, máximos tensiles, compresivos y cortantes. Resultados y conclusiones: todos los sistemas cerámicos presentaron un adecuado comportamiento para la elaboración de PPF en el sector anterior; el módulo elástico de la estructura influye en el comportamiento de los esfuerzos, al ser mayor, se genera disminución de los esfuerzos en la cerámica feldespática y el ligamento periodontal. Se evidenció que al tener un área de 16 mm2 en el conector, el ligamento periodontal recibió mayores esfuerzos como efecto de compensación, pero en la estructura se disminuyeron de forma significativa. Al reducir el área de los conectores a 9 mm2 se incrementaron los esfuerzos en 48%, pero no se alcanzó el límite de fluencia al someterlo a cargas de 1000 N, brindándole al sistema el adecuado margen de tolerancia sin fracturarse.

Introduction: the purpose of this study was to evaluate stress distribution on three-unit fixed partial dentures (FPD) in the anterior region, made of three ceramic systems with connector variations. The study was performed by the finite element method. Methods: four segments of FPD were modeled; three of them were made on ceramic systems: lithium disilicate, alumina, and zirconia, and the fourth model was of lithium disilicate with a connector of 9 mm2 in area. The modeling included three variables: elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and ultimate tensile strength. An initial load of 200 N was applied and increased up to 1000 N calculating von Mises, maximum tensile, compressive, and shear stresses. Results and conclusions: all the ceramic systems showed a suitable behavior for FPDs in the anterior area; the structure’s elastic modulus influences stress behavior; if it is higher, it reduces stresses in feldspar ceramics and periodontal ligament. We noted that in presence of a connector of 16 mm2 in area, the periodontal ligament received greater stresses as a compensation effect, but they significantly decreased in the structure. By reducing the connector area to 9 mm2, the stresses increased to 48%, but did not reach yield strength when subjected to loads of 1000 N, providing the system with proper margin tolerance without fracturing.