Effects of Increasing Doses of Lactobacillus Pre-Fermented Rapeseed Product with or without Inclusion of Macroalgae Product on Weaner Piglet Performance and Intestinal Development

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of increasing doses of pre-fermented rapeseed meal (FRM) without or with inclusion of the brown macroalgae Ascophyllum nodosum (AN) on weaner piglets’ performance and gut development. Ten days pre-weaning, standardized litters were randomly assigned to one of nine isoenergetic and isoproteic diets comprising (on DM basis): no supplement (negative control, NC), 2500 ppm ZnO (positive control, PC), 8, 10, 12, 15 or 25% FRM, and 10% FRM plus 0.6 or 1.0% AN. Fifty piglets receiving the same pre-weaning diets were weaned at 28 days of age and transferred to one pen, where they continued on the pre-weaning diet until day 92. At 41 days, six piglets per treatment were sacrificed for blood and intestinal samplings. The average daily gain was at least sustained at any dose of FRM (increased at 8% FRM, 28–41 days) from 18–41 days similar to PC but unaffected by inclusion of AN. The percentage of piglets that completed the experiment was increased by FRM compared to NC, despite detection of diarrhea symptoms. FRM showed quadratic dose-response effects on colon and mid-jejunum crypts depth, and enterocyte and mid-jejunum villus heights with optimum development at 8% or 10% FRM, respectively, but this was abolished when AN was also added. In conclusion, FRM sustained piglet growth performance and intestinal development similar to ZnO with an optimum inclusion level of 8–10% of dietary DM.

Microbiome Research as an Effective Driver of Success Stories in Agrifood Systems – A Selection of Case Studies

“…This could explain, why performance was sustained or even improved in the piglets fed the pre-fermented rapeseed product in the two studies (Satessa et al, 2020a,b). The solid-state fermentation process, in which the commercial rapeseed product is produced, is a controlled, anaerobic process using cultures of three fermentative LAB (Satessa et al, 2020b). Hence, piglets were provided with not only probiotic bacteria added during the pre-fermentation process, but also with health-promoting bioactive metabolites generated during the pre-fermentation process (Shi et al, 2015;Pessione and Cirrincione, 2016;Drażbo et al, 2018).…”

“…Notably, high dose of ZnO in animal feed, added to prevent weaning-related loss in productivity, must be phased out by 2022 in the EU ( European Medicines Agency, 2017 ). In case study 5 ( Table 1 ), we present a newly developed dry feed additive based on co-fermented rapeseed meal and seaweed (from sustainably sourced feed materials) with lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which promote intestinal development and gut epithelial barrier functions in weaner piglets ( Satessa et al, 2020a , b ). Piglet performance, intestinal development, and other health indicators were sustained or numerically improved when in-feed ZnO was replaced by this new feed additive (EP100i, European Protein, Denmark).…”

Supplementation of a lacto-fermented rapeseed-seaweed blend promotes gut microbial- and gut immune-modulation in weaner piglets

“…For each tissue a sterilized blade was used. The tissues were preserved in 10% formaldehyde and kept at room temperature for no longer than 24 h until further processing [20].…”

Supplementation of a Lacto-fermented Rapeseed-seaweed Blend Promotes Gut Microbial- and Gut Immune-Modulation in Weaner Piglets

“…For each tissue a sterilized blade was used. Tissues were preserved in 10% formaldehyde and kept at room temperature for no longer than 24 hours until further processing [18].…”