Effect of maternal supplementation with seaweed extracts on growth performance and aspects of gastrointestinal health of newly weaned piglets after challenge with enterotoxigenicEscherichia coliK88

Abstract

In the present study, a 2 £ 2 factorial arrangement was conducted to investigate the effect of maternal supplementation with seaweed extracts (2 SWE v. þSWE, n 20) from day 83 of gestation until weaning (day 28) on post-weaning (PW) growth performance, faecal score, faecal enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) toxin quantification, intestinal histology and cytokine mRNA of unchallenged and ETEC-challenged pigs. Pigs were ETEC challenged on day 9 PW. There was a maternal treatment £ challenge (SWE £ ETEC) interaction effect on growth performance and faecal score (P,0·05). Pigs from SWE-supplemented sows and ETEC-challenged (SE) had higher average daily gain (ADG) during 0 -13 d PW and reduced faecal score during 0 -72 h post-challenge than those from basal-fed sows and ETEC-challenged (BE) (P,0·05). However, there was no difference between unchallenged pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows (SC) and basal-fed sows (BC) (P.0·10). Pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows had reduced heat-labile enterotoxin gene copy numbers than those from the basal-fed sows (P,0·05). Maternal SWE supplementation increased the villus height in the ileum of pigs (P,0·05). There was a SWE £ ETEC interaction effect (P,0·05) on IL-6 mRNA and a SWE £ gastrointestinal (GI) region interaction effect (P,0·05) on transforming growth factor-b1 (TGF-b1) and TNF-a mRNA. IL-6 mRNA was down-regulated in SC pigs than BC pigs (P,0·05). However, there was no difference in IL-6 mRNA between SE and BE pigs. The mRNA of TGF-b1 and TNF-a was down-regulated in the colon of pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows compared with those from the basal-fed sows (P, 0·05). However, there was no difference in TGF-b1 and TNF-a mRNA in the ileum between the pigs from the SWE-supplemented sows and basal-fed sows. In conclusion, maternal SWE supplementation improves ADG and the aspects of GI health of weaned pigs following an ETEC challenge.Key words: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 challenge: Inflammatory cytokines: Pig performance: Seaweed extracts Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 is a major cause of diarrhoea in neonates and recently in weaned pigs (1,2) . It results in reduced growth rate, increased morbidity and mortality, and great economic loss in pig production worldwide (3,4) . Post-weaning (PW) diarrhoea due to ETEC K88 generally occurs in pigs 3-10 d PW (5,6) . ETEC K88 colonises in the small intestine and releases specific enterotoxins that impair intestinal barrier function, which indirectly induces fluid losses (4 -6) . Several factors, such as stress of weaning, lack of milk and dietary changes, contribute to the severity of the disease. Furthermore, weaning is often associated with undesirable morphological and physiological changes in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that is related to a reduced voluntary feed intake and, subsequently, susceptibility to intestinal health imbalance (7,8) . The ban on the inclusion of antibiotic growth promoters in weaning pig diets in Europe (European Community Regulation no. 1831/2003) has been associ...

The involvement of NF-κB/P38 pathways inScutellaria baicalensisextracts attenuating ofEscherichia coliK88-induced acute intestinal injury in weaned piglets

“…In the present study, we observed that E. coli K88 challenge not only induced fever, anorexia, inactivity, shivering within 6 h and appearing diarrhoea within 1 d in piglets, but also damaged intestinal morphology and increased plasma DAO activity. The villous height in the intestine of piglets was shrunk by E. coli K88 challenge, which was consistent with previous studies (3,30,31) . The DAO is abundant in enterocytes at the tip of small intestinal villous and regulates epithelial cell proliferation through degradation of polyamine as an indispensable substance for mitosis and meiosis (32) .…”

Seaweeds in Pig Nutrition

“…In swine, 24 studies have been published in the last 10 years on the effects of supplementation with brown seaweeds, or their extracts, on gut health: Ascophyllum nodosum [42,60,72], Ecklonia cava [63], Laminaria digitata [64,80,81], Laminaria hyperborea [82,83], Laminaria digitata and Laminaria hyperborea association [84], Laminaria spp. [58,59,65,67,[69][70][71][85][86][87][88][89][90]. Brown seaweeds titrated in alginic acid polysaccharides have also been studied [63].…”

Effect of a Laminarin Rich Macroalgal Extract on the Caecal and Colonic Microbiota in the Post-Weaned Pig

“…E. coli proliferation is one of the main causes of post-weaning diarrhoea in pigs [1,2]. Previously, laminarin supported growth during an ETEC challenge with supplemented pigs having improved growth rates and reduced diarrhea compared with pigs fed the control unsupplemented diet [18]. Similarly, the supplementation of laminarin to pigs suppressed Enterobacteriaceae populations and lowered faecal E. coli numbers [10,16,27].…”

“…The addition of laminarin to the diet improves nutrient digestibility through the upregulation of nutrient transporter gene expression, enhanced villus structure and higher production of VFAs [10,[13][14][15]. β-glucans such as laminarin, have the capacity to agglutinate bacterial species, inhibiting attachment and the colonisation of mucosal surfaces by pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, but these analyses have been limited to the evaluation of specific bacterial taxa in pigs [1,14,[16][17][18]. A more comprehensive understanding of the impact of laminarin on the microbiome of pigs is attainable using genomic approaches, such as employing 16s rRNA sequencing, as this technique can measure the relative proportions of a wide range of bacterial taxa.…”