Swine Nutrition and Environment

Novel and disruptive biological strategies for resolving gut health challenges in monogastric food animal production

“…All genes encode proteins that show resistance to antimicrobials and are referred to as resistome ( Wright, 2007 ). Development of antimicrobial resistance in swine production has been well documented to occur in two major distinctive types, including antibiotic-induced antibiotic resistance (e.g., Aminov and Mackie, 2007 ) and heavy metal-specific (i.e., Cu and Zn, in particular) antimicrobial resistance ( Fard et al, 2011 ) due to feeding pharmacological levels of Cu (200 to 250 mg/kg) and Zn (2,000 to 3,000 mg/kg) as growth promoters ( Fan, 2013 ).…”

“…Development of alternative strategies in terms of nutritive and non-nutritive feed supplements and or additives to replace the sub-therapeutic levels of feed antibiotic in monogastric food animal production has been a hot topic of research for the past decade and this is reflected by a series of reviews of literature reports ( Stein, 2002 , Pettigrew, 2006 , Lallès et al, 2007 , Heo et al, 2013 , Fan, 2013 , Pluske, 2013 ). Current alternative strategies can be categorized into two groups, including the strategies that improve host animal growth and gut mucosal immunity and the strategies that directly or indirectly control pathogenic bacterial proliferation in the gut environment.…”

“…Examples of the first category strategies include the use of rapidly digestible sugar supplements such as crystalline lactose and dry whey powder for optimal growth performances in weanling pigs ( Mahan and Newton, 1993 , Stein, 2002 , Hayhoe, 2012 ). Several strategies have been developed to directly improve gut mucosal growth and functions, including using sweeteners ( Shirazi-Beechey et al, 2011 ), gut trophic crystalline amino acids and short peptides (e.g., l -glutamine) ( Wu et al, 1996 , Wang et al, 2008 , Fan, 2013 ), growth factors such as recombinant lactoferrin and epidermal growth factor ( Fan, 2013 ), as well as positive immunomodulatory compounds such as β-glucans ( Hayhoe, 2012 ) and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids ( Fan, 2013 ). A great deal of research efforts have been devoted to develop various prebiotic, i.e., non-viscous soluble fibers, and probiotic supplements to promote healthy gut microbiota and improve host weanling pig health and growth ( Pettigrew, 2006 , Fan, 2014 ).…”

“…A great deal of research efforts have been devoted to develop various prebiotic, i.e., non-viscous soluble fibers, and probiotic supplements to promote healthy gut microbiota and improve host weanling pig health and growth ( Pettigrew, 2006 , Fan, 2014 ). Examples of the second category strategies include the formulation of low-crude protein diets by using crystalline free amino acids to reduce pathogenic bacterial proliferation ( Le et al, 2005 , Bauer et al, 2006 , Gloaguen et al, 2014 ), dietary supplementation of organic acids ( Kirchgessner and Roth, 1998 , Partanen and Mroz, 1999 , Fan, 2013 ) and dietary inclusion of pathogen-specific egg-white antibody proteins and spray-dried plasma proteins ( Marquardt et al, 1999 , Stein, 2002 , Pettigrew, 2006 , Fan, 2013 ). Although pharmacological levels of Cu and Zn are shown to be effective to promote pig growth, their dietary supplementations pose detrimental environmental concerns ( Fan, 2013 , Heo et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Evidence of the domestication of a handful of animal species, including pigs, can be traced back to early recorded human civilization ( Diamond, 2002 , Groenen et al, 2012 ). Animal production plays important roles in the continued human evolution in both physical and mental health as well as social and economic viability ( Pond and Lei, 2001 , Fan, 2013 ). Animal production, in providing meats, contributes greatly to social and economic activities and wellbeing ( Pond and Lei, 2001 , Fan et al, 2008 ).…”