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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.02.23.481664

Maternal and/or direct supplementation with a combination of a casein hydrolysate and yeast β-glucan on post-weaning performance and intestinal health in the pig

Conway, E.·O'Doherty, J. V.·Mukhopadhya, A.·Dowley, A.·Vigors, S.·Maher, S.·Ryan, M. T.·Sweeney, T.
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Abstract

A 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of maternal supplementation from day 83 of gestation and/or direct supplementation from weaning of a bovine casein hydrolysate plus a yeast {beta}-glucan (CH-YBG) on pig performance and intestinal health on day ten post-weaning. Twenty cross bred gilts (Large White x Landrace) were randomly assigned to one of two dietary groups (n = 10 gilts/group): basal diet (basal sows) and basal diet supplemented with CH-YBG (supplemented sows) from day 83 of gestation until weaning (2g/sow/day). At weaning, 120 pigs (6 pigs/sow) were selected. The two dam groups were further divided, resulting in four experimental groups (10 replicates/group; 3 pigs/pen) as follows: 1) BB (basal sows + basal pigs); 2) BS (basal sows + supplemented pigs); 3) SB (supplemented sows + basal pigs); 4) SS (supplemented sows + supplemented pigs). Supplemented pigs were offered 0.5g CH-YBG/kg of feed for 10 days post-weaning. On day 10 post-weaning, 1 pig/pen was humanely sacrificed and samples were taken from the gastrointestinal tract for analysis. Pigs weaned from supplemented sows (SS, SB) had reduced faecal scores and incidence of diarrhoea (P<0.05) compared to pigs weaned from basal sows (BB, BS), with SS pigs not displaying the transient rise in faecal scores seen in the other three groups from day 3 to day 10 post-weaning (P<0.05). Pigs weaned from supplemented sows had reduced feed intake (P<0.05), improved feed efficiency (P<0.05), increased butyrate concentrations (P<0.05), increased abundance of Lactobacillus (P<0.05) and decreased abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and Campylobacteraceae (P<0.05) compared to pigs weaned from basal sows. In conclusion, a combination of both maternal and direct supplementation with CH-YBG is the desirable feeding strategy to ameliorate the post-weaning challenge in pig production systems.

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Conway, E., O'Doherty, J. V., Mukhopadhya, A., Dowley, A., Vigors, S., Maher, S., Ryan, M. T., Sweeney, T.. 2022-02-23. Maternal and/or direct supplementation with a combination of a casein hydrolysate and yeast β-glucan on post-weaning performance and intestinal health in the pig. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.23.481664

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