Comparative effects of enzymatic soybean, fish meal and milk powder in diets on growth performance, immunological parameters, SCFAs production and gut microbiome of weaned piglets

Abstract

Background The objective of this study was to evaluate the replacement effects of milk powder (MK) and fish meal (FM) by enzymatic soybean (ESB) in diets on growth performance, immunological parameters, SCFAs production and gut microbiome of weaned piglets. Methods A total of 128 piglets with initial body weight at 6.95 ± 0.46 kg, were randomly assigned into 4 dietary treatments with 8 replicates per treatment and 4 piglets per replicate for a period of 14 d. Piglets were offered iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic diets as follows: CON diet with MK and FM as high quality protein sources, ESB plus FM diet with ESB replacing MK, ESB plus MK diet with ESB replacing FM, and ESB diet with ESB replacing both MK and FM. Results No significant differences were observed in growth performance among all treatments (P > 0.05). However, piglets fed ESB plus FM or ESB diet had increased diarrhea index (P<0.01), and lower digestibility of dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE) or crude protein (CP), relative to piglets fed CON diet (P < 0.01). Moreover, the inclusion of ESB in diet markedly decreased the plasma concentration of HPT and fecal concentration of butyric acid (BA) (P<0.01). The High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene V3−V4 region of gut microbiome revealed that the inclusion of ESB in diet increased the alpha diversity, and the linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) showed that piglets fed with ESB plus FM or ESB diet contained more gut pathogenic bacteria, such as g_Peptococcus, g_Veillonella and g_Helicobacter. Conclusion The inclusion of ESB in diet did not markedly affect growth performance of piglets, but the replacement of MK or both MK and FM by ESB increased diarrhea index, which could be associated with lower nutrients digestibility and more gut pathogenic bacteria. However, piglets fed diet using ESB to replace FM did not markedly affect gut health-related parameters, indicating the potential for replacing FM with ESB in weaning diet.

Effects of coated sodium butyrate on performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal health of laying hens

“…Once the mixture was incubated for 30 min at 4°C, it was subject to 10 min centrifugation at 20,000 × g , followed by filtration into a 1.5 mL tube. Methanol (0.9 mL) was subsequently added, and the mixture was subject to 5 min centrifugation at 10,000 × g , followed by filtration of the supernatant with the 0.22 µm membrane as well as collection in the 1.5 mL tubes for further analysis ( Li et al, 2021 ).…”

Xylo-oligosaccharides improve the adverse effects of plant-based proteins on weaned piglet health by maintaining the intestinal barrier and inhibiting harmful bacterial growth

“…In our experiment, the dietary treatment had no significant effect on the growth performance of weaned piglets. Similarly, Li Y. et al ( 2021 ) found no significant difference in the growth performance of piglets between different treatment groups when replacing fish meal and milk powder with enzymatically hydrolyzed soy. In contrast, another study showed that replacing animal protein with soybean protein concentrate could significantly reduce BW, ADG, and ADFI of piglets (Deng et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Chromium was determined using a ContrAA 700 fire flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Analytik Jena GmbH, Jena, Germany). Apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) was calculated according to the following equation: ATTD nutrient = 1 – (Cr diet × Nutrient feces )/(Cr feces × Nutrient diet ) (Li Y. et al, 2021 ).…”

Enzymolytic soybean meal improves growth performance, economic efficiency and organ development associated with cecal fermentation and microbiota in broilers offered low crude protein diets

“…Yu et al ( 16 ) reported that ESBM could replace up to 75% of fish meal in the diet without a significant effect on the growth performance of abalone. The results from Li et al ( 23 ) showed that piglets fed ESBM had comparable ADG, ADFI and FCR to those fed fish meal and milk powder. In this study, we found that ESBM supplementation at a level of 2.0% in low-CP diets could maintain ADG and even attain ADG similar to that of broilers fed a standard high-CP diet from 1 to 42 days, suggesting that ESBM could be an effective substitute for SBM to be used in low-CP diets.…”