Associations between individual food intake characteristics and indicators of gut physiology of group-housed weanling pigs differing in genotype

Abstract

A total of 198, 27-day-old weanling gilts (7·7 kg) were used to study the associations between food intake characteristics measured in individual pigs but which were group-housed, and indicators of gut physiology at 5 days after weaning. All piglets were offered ad libitum access to food and water and were housed in pens (11 piglets per pen) equipped with feeding stations in order to determine the time between weaning and the start of the first food intake (latency time; h), and the increase in daily food intake (daily increase; g/kg0·75 per day) for each individual. Forty piglets were selected that either had an early (≤ 2 h) or a late (≥23 h) start of food intake and subsequently either had a relatively fast (≥18 g/kg0·75 per day) or slow (≤ 2 g/kg0·75 per day) increase in daily food intake so that there were four different groups. Five days after weaning, the 40 piglets were killed in order to determine histological (villous height, crypt depth, number of goblet cells) and functional (maltase and sucrase activities) measures in the proximal small intestine (SI), and microbial measures (ammonia and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations) and dry-matter (DM) content in the distal SI, caecum and colon. Thirteen unweaned piglets were killed to serve as the reference group. Villous height/crypt depth ratio (P < 0·05), number (P < 0·01) of goblet cells on the villi and crypts, and sucrase activity (P < 0·001) in the proximal SI of the unweaned piglets were higher than in the weaned piglets. The proportion of branched-chain VFA (bcVFA; P < 0·01), ammonia-nitrogen (P < 0·001) and DM concentrations (P < 0·01) in the contents of the caecum as well as proportions of bcVFA in the contents of the colon of the unweaned piglets were higher than in the weaned piglets. Apart from a tendency towards an interaction (P < 0·1) between latency time and daily increase with regard to villous height/crypt depth ratio and number of goblet cells on the villi of the proximal SI, histology and function of the proximal SI and digesta characteristics of the distal SI, caecum and colon were not affected by latency time. Piglets with a fast increase in food intake tended to have longer villi on the proximal SI (P < 0·1), and had less acid-mucin containing goblet cells (P < 0·05) on these villi than had the piglets with a slow increase. The piglets with a fast increase had a higher DM content in the colon and tended to have a higher total VFA-concentration in the caecum than did their counterparts with a slow increase. The genotype of the piglets affected maltase (P < 0·01) and sucrase (P < 0·05) activities in the proximal SI and tended to affect the villous height/crypt depth ratio (P < 0·06). Genotype also affected total VFA concentrations (P < 0·05) and tended to affect the ammonia nitrogen (P < 0·1) in the colon and caecum, respectively. This study indicates that within the range of practical food intake levels recorded, the physiology and function of the gut is not markedly affected by the time between weaning and the onset of feeding or by the subsequent increase in daily food intake.

Effects of a multi-strain Bacillus subtilis-based direct-fed microbial on immunity markers and intestinal morphology in diets fed to weanling pigs

“…However, neutral goblet cells significantly decreased upon weaning, returning to above pre-weaning concentrations by 25 d post-weaning ( Brown et al, 2006 ). Another study agreed with these results, observing effects of weaning on goblet cell concentration, with pigs evaluated at weaning having greater goblet cell concentration than those evaluated 5 d post-weaning ( Bruininx et al, 2002 ). However, in the current study pigs were not evaluated until wk 3 and 6 post-weaning, likely beyond the minimal time required for full recovery of the effects of weaning on goblet cell concentrations.…”

Effect of feed particle size and feed processing on morphological characteristics in the small and large intestine of pigs and on adhesion of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium DT12 in the ileum in vitro1

“…Goblet cells differentiate and mature as they migrate up the villus. The process is affected by a number of factors, such as the age of the animal (Bruininx et al, 2002), diet (More et al, 1987), and composition of the microflora (Sharma and Schumacher, 2000). The greater mucinstaining area on the villi in the distal small intestine in pigs fed the pelleted diets indicates a greater production and secretion of mucus in this region in these pigs compared with pigs fed nonpelleted diets.…”

Early Weaning Stimulates Intestinal Brush Border Enzyme Activities in Piglets, Mainly at the Posttranscriptional Level

“…Abrupt weaning is often associated with a variable period of low feed intake for up to 2 to 3 days (3,4). This temporary weaning anorexia is a main determinant of the structural mucosal alterations observed in weaned piglets (5,6).…”

“…In addition, weaning-related stress (separation from sows, litters mixing, new environment) and changes in the nature of diet contribute to the maturation of gut digestive function. Both an increase in maltase and a decrease in lactase activities have been reported to occur after weaning (4,(7)(8)(9)(10). Postweaning changes in intestinal peptidase activities are less investigated (11), and the effects of weaning and the postweaning feed intake level on disaccharidase and peptidase gene expression remain to be determined.…”