A review of interactions between dietary fibre and the intestinal mucosa, and their consequences on digestive health in young non-ruminant animals

Pigs are confronted with changes in farming practices that may affect performance and animal well-being. The sanitary conditions of the farm can have an impact on the ability of pigs to adapt to these changes. This study aimed to analyse how weaned pigs respond to common farming practices of changes in diet and housing in terms of performance, health and behaviour, and how these responses are affected by the sanitary housing conditions, qualified here as good or poor. At weaning at 4 weeks of age, 20 piglets were assigned to 10 blocks of two littermates and each pig within a litter was randomly assigned to one of two sanitary conditions. Pigs were housed individually and received a starter diet. A diet change occurred on day 12 post weaning (starter to weaner diets) and pigs were transferred to the grower unit on day 33 post weaning and continued to receive the weaner diet. From 43 days post weaning, pigs were offered a grower diet and were vaccinated against swine influenza on day 47 and 61 post weaning. On the basis of this design, three post-weaning phases were identified: phase I from day 1 to 11 (post weaning), phase II from day 12 to 32 (after the diet change) and phase III from day 33 to 42 (after the housing change). Individual BW was measured every 3 days, and feed refusals and faecal scores were recorded on a daily basis. Behavioural observations were performed during 28 days by using the instantaneous scan sampling method. Individual blood samples were collected at the end of each phase to analyse the plasma concentration of haptoglobin and on day 68 post weaning to analyse the anti-influenza immunoglobulins G (IgG). Poor sanitary conditions resulted in a decrease in daily gain, feed intake and gain to feed ratio of, respectively, 11%, 5% and 7% (P< 0.05). Pigs in poor sanitary conditions had higher faecal scores (P< 0.05), tended to have higher plasma haptoglobin concentration in phase II (P= 0.06) and had a higher anti-influenza IgG titre (P= 0.11). The diet change affected performance and behavioural responses of pigs in poor but not in good sanitary conditions. Housing change resulted in a 30% decrease in growth and an increase in behaviour oriented towards exploration and excitement. The results of this study show an effect of sanitary conditions on the responses of pigs to a diet change, whereas those to a housing change were little affected by the sanitary conditions.

Section: Responses Of Pigs To the Degradation Of Sanitary Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sanitary housing conditions modify the performance and behavioural response of weaned pigs to feed- and housing-related stressors

Pastorelli

Floc'H

Merlot

et al. 2012

“…At present, this topic is still subjected to very active research because of the complexity of the physical structure and chemical composition of the plant cell walls and also because of the wide and different physiological effects of the different constituents. The importance of dietary fibres in animal feeding is due to its influence on the rate of passage, mucosal functionality and its role as a substrate for gut microbiota that relate to performance and digestive health (Montagne et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary fibres in the nutrition of the growing rabbit and recommendations to preserve digestive health: a review

Gidenne

2015

The importance of dietary fibre fractions in animal feeding is due to its influence on the rate of passage, mucosal functionality and its role as substrate for gut microbiota that relates to performance and digestive health. The complexity of the physical structure and chemical composition of polysaccharides in plant cell walls explains the wide and different physiological effects of this large range of fibre fractions. Our review will first briefly consider the definition and structure of the different classes of fibres and of cell wall constituents, followed by a description of some analytical methods employed for monogastric feeds. Second, the nutritional role and impact of fibre intake on digestive health will be described for the growing rabbit with an extensive analysis of previous studies performed without antibiotics. The fibres in rabbit feed are essential for reducing the risk of digestive trouble after weaning, and the requirements are defined in terms of the quantity and quality of the fibre fractions as follows: a minimal dietary level of lignocellulose 'ADF' (18%) and lignins (>5%), balanced with a maximum quantity of digestible fibres 'DgF' (ratio DgF/ADF below 1.3). Soluble fibres, defined as the difference between total dietary fibre and NDF, are quickly fermented and digested by the rabbit. However, their impact on digestive health is still questioned.Keywords: dietary fibres, definition, nutrition, digestive health, rabbit Implications Post-weaning mortality from digestive troubles still remains a key problem in conventional breeding of rabbits. Dietary fibres recover more than 50% of feed for the growing rabbit. New criteria for fibre analysis in feeds were developed, and were related in several recent studies with the digestive physiology of rabbits and risk of digestive troubles. The present review aims to summarise these results through an extensive analysis of the literature. We also propose practical recommendation for fibre requirements in the feed of the growing rabbit to preserve the digestive health. IntroductionThe concepts on dietary fibres historically differ in animal feeding from those developed in human nutrition. For the latter, this is a rather modern concept, mainly developed in the 1960s (Hippsley, 1953) in order to deal with several pathologies (colorectal cancer, obesity, etc.), regularly revisited (Trowell, 1978;De Vries, 1999;Elleuch et al., 2011) and often restricted to the polysaccharides of the plant cell wall of fruits and legumes. In contrast, animal nutritionists deal with other 'less-refined' fibre sources, often from whole plants (forages, by-products of seed processing, etc.), and recover a larger range of chemical components, including other polymers such as polyphenolic (lignins, tannins) or polylipidic compounds (cutins).At present, these two conceptions are converging, and dietary fibres are generally defined as polysaccharides and associated substances resistant to mammal enzyme digestion and absorption that can be partially or totally fermented in the gu...

“…There has been very little data published on the effects of seaweed extracts on gut morphology in pigs or other species, so it is unclear as to the exact cause of the reduction in the villous height and subsequently the villous height: crypt depth ratio. There are a number of possible explanations for this reduction; firstly dietary fibres such as mixed linked b-glucans from cereal or algal sources are both soluble and viscous and can cause an increase in the viscosity of the intestinal contents (Montagne et al, 2003) and high viscous diets have been shown to decrease villous height in newly weaned pigs (McDonald et al, 2001). Another possible explanation may be due to the presence of small amounts of components within the L. digitata seaweed extract such as tannins, which may not be fully removed during processing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of seaweed extract inclusion on gut morphology, selected intestinal microbiota, nutrient digestibility, volatile fatty acid concentrations and the immune status of the weaned pig

Reilly

O’Doherty

Pierce

et al. 2008

126

105

An experiment (complete randomised design) was conducted to investigate the effects of Laminaria hyperborea and Laminaria digitata seaweed extract inclusion on gut morphology, selected intestinal microbiota populations, volatile fatty acid concentrations and the immune status of the weaned pig. Twenty-eight piglets (24 days of age, 6.5 6 1.4 kg live weight) were assigned to one of four dietary treatments for 7 days and then sacrificed: (T1) basal diet (control); (T2) basal diet and 1.5 g/kg L. hyperborea seaweed extract; (T3) basal diet and 1.5 g/kg L. digitata seaweed extract; and (T4) basal diet and 1.5 g/kg of a combination of L. hyperborea and L. digitata seaweed extract. The seaweed extract contained both laminarin and fucoidan. Digesta samples were taken from the caecum and colon to measure the enterobacteria, bifidobacteria and lactobacilli populations and for volatile fatty acid analysis. Tissue samples were taken from the duodenum, jejunum and ileum for morphological examination. Blood samples were taken to determine the cytokine gene expression profile and to measure the phagocytotic capacity of the blood. Pigs offered diets containing L. hyperborea seaweed extract had less bifidobacteria in the colon (P , 0.05) and lactobacilli in the caecum (P , 0.05) and colon (P , 0.001). The inclusion of L. digitata seaweed extract resulted in lower populations of enterobacteria in the caecum and colon (P , 0.01), bifidobacteria in the caecum (P , 0.05), and lactobacilli in the caecum (P , 0.05) and colon (P , 0.001). Pigs offered the combination of L. hyperborea and L. digitata seaweed extracts had less enterobacteria (P , 0.05) and lactobacilli (P , 0.01) in the caecum and colon. Pigs offered the L. digitata-supplemented diet had a reduced villous height in the duodenum and jejunum (P , 0.05). The inclusion of the L. digitata seaweed extract increased the molar proportion of butyric acid in the colon (P , 0.05). There was a significant reduction in the ammonia concentration in the colon with the inclusion of L. hyperborea (P , 0.01) and L. digitata (P , 0.05) seaweed extracts. An increase in the expression of the Interleukin-8 mRNA was observed on day 6 with the supplementation of the combination of L. hyperborea and L. digitata seaweed extract (P , 0.05). The inclusion of L. hyperborea seaweed extract resulted in an increase in total monocyte number (P , 0.05). In conclusion, the supplementation of L. hyperborea and L. digitata seaweed extract alone and in combination reduced the enterobacteria, bifidobacteria and lactobacilli populations in the caecum and colon, while only marginal effects on the immune response was observed.