Dietary Soybean Oligosaccharides Addition Increases Growth Performance and Reduces Lipid Deposition by Altering Fecal Short-Chain Fatty Acids Composition in Growing Pigs.

One hundred and twenty-eight boars and gilts of the Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire variety with an initial body weight (BW) of 52.49 ± 0.48 kg were used in a randomized complete block design for a 63-day experiment. The four treatment groups were: control diet (CON), CON + 0.2% soybean oligosaccharides (SBOS), CON + 0.4% SBOS, and CON + 0.8% SBOS. The results showed that the average daily weight gain (ADG) was significantly higher in the 0.8% SBOS group than in the CON group on days 0-63 (p < 0.05). Compared with the CON group, adding 0.8% SBOS to the diet significantly increased the carcass weight, dressing percentage, and carcass lean percentage, but decreased the average backfat depth of growing-finishing pigs (p < 0.05). Adding different concentrations (0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.8%) of SBOS to the diet can significantly increase the concentrations of acetate, propionate, and butyrate in feces (p < 0.05). The activities of malic enzyme and fatty acid synthase in the 0.8% group were significantly lower than those in the 0.2% and CON groups (p < 0.05). In summary, 0.8% SBOS supplementation to growing-finishing pigs' diets can reduce lipid deposition and increase ADG.

Improvement in ovarian function following fecal microbiota transplantation from high-laying rate breeders.

The underlying mechanism between the gut microbiota and reproductive function is not yet well-known. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the administration of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from highly laying rate donors on the cecal microbiota, intestinal health and ovarian function in broiler breeders. A total of 60 broiler breeders (53 wk of age) were selected by their laying rate [high (HP, 90.67 ± 0.69%; n = 10) and low (LP, 70.23 ± 0.87%; n = 20)]. The LP breeders were then be transplanted with fecal microbiota from HP hens (FMTHP; n = 10) or the same dosage of PBS (FMTCON; n = 10) for 28 d. The results revealed that FMT from HP donors increased egg-laying rate and serum hormone levels [17ß-estradiol (E2), anti-Müller hormone], also decreased proinflammatory cytokine levels (interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α) of LP breeders (P < 0.05). The FMTHP group breeders had higher villus height, villus height/crypt depth ratio, and upregulated mRNA expression of jejunum barrier-related gene (ZO-2 and mucin-2) and estrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and anti-Müller hormone (AMH) receptor genes (ESR1, ESR2, FSHR, AMHR) (P < 0.05) than FMTCON group. FMT from HP donors led to higher mRNA expression of Bcl2 and sirtuin1 (SIRT1), while it downregulated the proapoptotic genes (Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9) mRNA expressions in ovary compared with the FMTCON breeders (P < 0.05), and this pattern was also observed in HP donors. Also, HP breeder had higher observed_species and alpha-diversity indexes (Chao1 and ACE) than FMTCON group, while FMTHP can increase observed_species and alpha-diversity indexes (Chao1 and ACE) than FMTCON group (P < 0.05). The bacteria enrichment of Firmicutes (phylum), Bacteroidetes (phylum), Lactobacillus (genus), Enterococcus (genus), and Bacteroides (genus) were increased by FMTHP treatment. The genera Butyricicoccus, Enterococcus, and Lactobacillus were positively correlated with egg-laying rate. Therefore, cecal microbiomes of breeders with high egg-laying performance have more diverse activities, which may be related to the metabolism and health of the host; and FMT from high-yield donors can increase the hormone secretion, intestinal health, and ovarian function to improve egg-laying performance and the SIRT1-related apoptosis and cytokine signaling pathway were involved in this process.

A high nutrient dense diet alters hypothalamic gene expressions to influence energy intake in pigs born with low birth weight.

The low birth weight (LBW) individual had greater risk of developing metabolic dysfunction in adulthood. The aim of this study was to test whether the LBW individual is more prone to glucose intolerance on a high nutrient dense (HND) diet, and to investigate the associated hypothalamic gene expressions using pigs as model. The intake of digestible energy intake, if calculated on a body weight basis, was greater in LBW pigs than that of normal birth weight (NBW) pigs. The LBW pigs fed the HND diet had greater digestible energy intake than those fed the NND diet at adulthood, which did not occur for NBW pigs. Notably, up-regulated hypothalamic toll-like receptor 4, interleukin 6 and phospho-NFκB p65 expressions, and the altered expressions of hypothalamic leptin receptor, suppressor of cytokine signaling 3, agouti-related protein and proopiomelanocortin predicted the overconsumption of energy intake and development of glucose intolerance in LBW pigs fed the HND diet. Collectively, pigs born with LBW had a distinct hypothalamic leptin signaling to a high nutrient dense diet, which contributed to greater energy intake and glucose intolerance.