Beet Pulp: An Alternative to Improve the Gut Health of Growing Pigs

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary fiber on the gut health of growing pigs. In total, 30 growing pigs with an initial average body weight of 45.8 ± 2.78 kg were divided into three groups with 10 replicates per treatment, and one pig per replicate. The treatments included a corn–soybean meal-based diet (control group, 1.5% crude fiber (CF)), corn–soybean meal + beet pulp-based diet (beet pulp group, 5.74% CF) and corn–soybean meal-based diet (feed intake-pairing group (pairing group); the feed intake was equal to the beet pulp group, 1.5% CF). The whole trial lasted 28 days. The beet pulp group had a longer length of the large intestine, higher weight of the small intestine and whole intestine, greater density of the large intestine and whole intestine, and higher villus height in the jejunum and ileum than the control group (p < 0.05). The messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF), glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), and glucagon-like peptide 2 receptor (GLP-2R) in the duodenum, EGF and GLP-2 in the jejunum, EGF in the ileum, and GLP-2 in the colon were higher in the beet pulp group than in the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the apparent total tract digestibility of crude ash, energy, dry matter (DM), and crude protein (CP) was lower in the beet pulp group than in the control group (p < 0.05), while the apparent total tract digestibility of CF, the activity of jejunal lactase, and the mRNA abundance of duodenal GLP-2 were higher in the beet pulp group than in the control and pairing groups (p < 0.05). In addition, the beet pulp group had more goblet cells in the colon, more Bifidobacterium spp. in the cecal digesta, higher concentrations of acetic acid and butyric acid in the cecal digesta, and higher mRNA abundance of duodenal regeneration protein Ⅲγ (REG-Ⅲγ), jejunal mucin 2 (MUC-2), and ileal G protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR-43) than the control group (p < 0.05). However, these parameters did not differ between the control and pairing groups (p > 0.05). These findings indicate feeding a high-fiber diet (5.74% CF, obtained from beet pulp) to pigs could modulate the gut microbiota composition, increase the short-chain fatty-acid (SCFA) content in the hindgut, and improve gut health, which is independent of the feed intake.

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“…In addition, SCFAs are the most critical and pleiotropic functional components of microbe-to-host signaling (56). It is now well-established that SCFAs modulate colonic motility by stimulating serotonin secretion from gut enterochromaffin cells (56,57) and SCFAs are closely related to intestinal growth and barrier function (58). In the present study, we observed a significant decrease in the concentration of propionic acid in both heroin dependent mice and FMT mice (Figure 6A) compared to controls.…”

Influence of Sugar Beet Pulp Supplementation on Pigs’ Health and Production Quality

“…Studies on ADG and FCR changes after SBP inclusion in pig diets have obtained inconsistent results. It was reported that the inclusion of SBP in pigs’ diet led to lower ADG [ 18 , 51 ]. However, Bruininx et al [ 52 ] reported that including 10% of SBP into the diet increased the FCR during the growing period.…”

“…It should be noted that SBP contains similar gross energy and crude protein contents compared to corn grains [ 17 ]. Additionally, SBP contains fibre that is fermentable, has a high water-binding capacity and can alter the physical and chemical properties of the digestive tract, thus affecting feed intake and animal growth [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. The fermentation of dietary fibre, such as SBP, in the gut promotes the multiplication of bacterial populations such as those of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium , which are generally considered to be beneficial to intestinal health, in part by preventing colonisation by opportunistic pathogens [ 20 , 21 ].…”

Nutritional Potentials of Atypical Feed Ingredients for Broiler Chickens and Pigs

“…Supplementing SBP with a cocktail of carbohydrases such as xylanase, cellulase, and β-glucanase, improved the utilization of energy, protein, dry matter, and fiber as well as increasing the production of VFA in growing pigs [ 27 ]. Improvements in gut microbiota and gut health was also observed in growing pigs fed SBP [ 174 ]. A study by Gebbink et al [ 175 ] introduced SBP to weanling pigs and there was some evidence that SBP supported the increased production of VFA and reduced the population of harmful bacteria in the gut; however, it did not affect growth performance of piglets.…”