The present study aims to determine the effect of miscellaneous meals (rapeseed meal, cottonseed meal, and sunflower meal) replacing soybean meal in feed on growth performance, apparent digestibility of nutrients, serum biochemical parameters, serum free amino acid content, microbiota composition and SCFAs content in growing pigs (25–50 kg). A total of 72 (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) growing pigs with initial weights of 25.79 ± 0.23 kg were randomly divided into three treatments. The pigs were fed corn–soybean meal (CON), corn–soybean–miscellaneous meals (CSM), and corn–miscellaneous meals (CMM). Each treatment included six replicates with four pigs per pen (n = 24, 12 barrows and 12 gilts). Soybean meal accounted for 22.10% of the basal diet in the CON group. In the CSM group, miscellaneous meals partially replaced soybean meal with a mixture of 4.50% rapeseed meal, 3.98% cottonseed meal, and 4.50% sunflower meal. In the CMM group, miscellaneous meals entirely replaced soybean meal with a mixture of 8.50% rapeseed meal, 8.62% cottonseed meal, and 8.5% sunflower. The results showed that compared with the CON, the CSM and CMM groups significantly improved the average daily gain (ADG) of growing pigs during the 25–50 kg stage (p < 0.05) but had no effects on average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily feed intake/average daily gain (F/G) (p > 0.05). Moreover, the CMM group significantly reduced nutrient apparent digestibility of gross energy compared with the CON group. The serum biochemical parameters results showed that the CSM group significantly improved the contents of total protein (TP) compared with the CON group (p < 0.05). The CMM group significantly improved the contents of total protein (TP), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) compared with the CON group in serum (p < 0.05). In comparison with the CON group, the CMM group also significantly improved lysine (Lys), threonine (Thr), valine (Val), isoleucine (Ile), leucine (Leu), phenylalanine (Phe), arginine (Arg), and citrulline (Cit) levels in serum (p < 0.05). However, the CMM group significantly decreased non-essential amino acid content glycine (Gly) in serum compared with CON (p < 0.05), while compared with the CON group, the CSM and CMM groups had no significant effects on the relative abundance, the alpha-diversity, or the beta-diversity of fecal microbiota. Moreover, compared with the CON group, the CSM group significantly increased butyric acid and valeric acid contents of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in feces (p < 0.05). In contrast to the CON group, the CMM group significantly reduced the contents of SCFAs in feces, including acetic acid, propionic acid, and isobutyric acid (p < 0.05). Collectively, the results of the present study indicate that miscellaneous meals (rapeseed meal, cottonseed meal, and sunflower meal) can partially replace the soybean meal and significantly improve the growth performance of growing pigs during the 25–50 kg stage. Thus, miscellaneous meals are a suitable protein source as basal diets to replace soybean meals for 25–50 kg growing pigs. These results can be helpful to further develop miscellaneous meals as a functional alternative feed ingredient to soybean meal.
Piglet weaning is an important stage in production where changes in the environment and diet can cause problems such as intestinal inflammation and diarrhea. Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for human and animal growth and has immunomodulatory and inflammatory effects. A large body of literature has previously reported on the use of vitamin A in piglet production, so our experiment added different concentrations of vitamin A (0, 1100, 2200, 4400, 8800, and 17,600 IU/kg) to weaned piglet diets to study the effects of different doses on growth performance, intestinal barrier, inflammation, and flora in weaned piglets. We selected 4400 IU/kg as the optimum concentration of vitamin A in relation to average daily weight gain, feed intake, feed-to-weight ratio, and diarrhea rate, and subsequently tested the inflammatory factors, immunoglobulin content, antioxidant levels, and intestinal flora of weaned piglets. Results: We observed that the diarrhea rate of weaned piglets was significantly lower after the addition of 4400 IU/kg of vitamin A to the diet (p < 0.05). A control group and a 4400 IU/kg VA group were selected for subsequent experiments. We found that after the addition of vitamin A, the serum CAT level of weaned piglets increased significantly, the expression of Claudin-1 in the jejunum and ileum increased significantly, the expression of Occludin gene in the jejunum increased significantly, the expression of IL-5 and IL-10 in the ileum increased significantly (p < 0.05), and the expression of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 in the ileum increased significantly (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, in the colonic flora of vitamin A-added weaned piglets, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria and Erysipelotrichales decreased significantly, while the relative abundance of Bacteroidales increased significantly (p < 0.05). The results of this study indicated that vitamin A at 4400 IU/kg reduces diarrhea in weaned piglets by increasing antioxidant levels, increasing intestinal tight junction protein gene expression, and regulating colonic gut microbiota.
Arginine, which is metabolized into ornithine, proline, and nitric oxide, plays an important role in embryonic development. The present study was conducted to investigate the molecular mechanism of arginine in proliferation, differentiation, and physiological function of porcine trophoblast cells (pTr2) through metabolic pathways. The results showed that arginine significantly increased cell viability (P < 0.05). The addition of arginine had a quadratic tendency to increase the content of progesterone (P = 0.06) and protein synthesis rate (P = 0.03), in which the maximum protein synthesis rate was observed at 0.4 mM arginine. Arginine quadratically increased (P < 0.05) the intracellular contents of spermine, spermidine and putrescine, as well as linearly increased (P < 0.05) the intracellular content of NO in a dose-dependent manner. Arginine showed a quadratic tendency to increase the content of putrescine (P = 0.07) and a linear tendency to increase NO content (P = 0.09) in cell supernatant. Moreover, increasing arginine activated (P < 0.05) the mRNA expressions for ARG, ODC, iNOS and PCNA. Furthermore, inhibitors of arginine metabolism (L-NMMA and DFMO) both inhibited cell proliferation, while addition of its metabolites (NO and putrescine) promoted the cell proliferation and cell cycle, the mRNA expressions of PCNA, EGF and IGF-1, and increased (P < 0.05) cellular protein synthesis rate, as well as estradiol and hCG secretion (P < 0.05). In conclusion, our results suggested that arginine could promote cell proliferation and physiological function by regulating the metabolic pathway. Further studies showed that arginine and its metabolites modulate cell function mainly through β-catenin and mTOR pathways.
Abstract BACKGROUND: The beneficial function of fermented feed in livestock industry has been widely investigated. However, little is known about the effects of fermented feed on different weaned-day piglets. This study aimed to investigate the effects of fermented diet on the growth performance, intestinal function and microbiota of piglets weaned at age of 21 days and 28 days. RESULTS: The results found that weaning on d 21 significantly increased ( P < 0.05) ADG, and ADFI (calculated based on wet weight and dry matter), while reduced ( P < 0.05) F: G, the activities of trypsin and lipase of jejunum and villus height of ileum, compared with 28-d weaning. The protein levels of Occludin, Claudin-1, ZO-1 of ileum in the groups weaning on d 21 were less ( P < 0.05) than the groups weaning on d 28. Moreover, dietary supplementation with fermented diet upregulated ( P < 0.05) Occludin, Claudin-1, ZO-1 proteins of ileum, compared with the groups treated with control diet both weaning on d 21 and d 28. In addition, dietary supplementation with fermented diet decreased ( P < 0.05) the relative abundance of Clostridia (class) and increased ( P < 0.05) Bacteroidia (class) level of cecal microbiota, compared with the groups treated with control diet both weaning on d 21 and d 28. However, supplementation with fermented diet did not affect the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids in the cecum ( P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Therefore, our data suggest that feed digestibility is improved in piglets weaned at 21 days, but intestinal barrier function is weaker than in piglets weaned at 28 days. However, compared with feeding control diet, supplementation with fermented diet both improved feed conversion and intestinal barrier function of weaned piglets by modulating intestinal microbiota.
To investigate the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum on inflammatory responses induced by ETEC K88 and explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Intestinal porcine cells (IPEC‐1) were incubated with 0 or 1 × 108 CFU per well L. plantarum for 4 h, and then these cells were challenged with 0 or 1 × 108 CFU per well ETEC K88 for 2 h. The results showed that pre‐treatment of IPEC‐1 cells with L. plantarum prevented the increases in the transcript abundance of interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), interleukin‐8 (IL‐8) and tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) (P < 0·05) caused by ETEC K88. Additionally, L. plantarum inhibited the reduction in peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ (PPAR‐γ) expression caused by ETEC K88 (P < 0·05). Moreover, L. plantarum pre‐treatment downregulated the phosphorylation levels of c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and p38 and the nuclear concentration of nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF‐κB p65) (P < 0·05) compared with ETEC K88 group. Silencing experiment further supported that the protective effect of L. plantarum P might mediated by suppression of ETEC‐provoked activation of MAPK and NF‐κB signalling pathways. Lactobacillus plantarum inhibited the inflammatory response induced by ETEC K88 in IPEC‐1 cells via modulating MAPK and NF‐κB signalling. This study elucidated the underlying mechanism in which probiotics protect against intestinal inflammation caused by ETEC K88.
Abstract Lactating mammary glands are among the most active lipogenic organs and provide a large percentage of bioactive lipids and calories for infant growth. The branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) valine is known to modulate fatty acids synthesis in adipose tissue; however, its effects on fat metabolism and the underlying mechanisms in mammary glands remain to be determined. Valine supplementation during late pregnancy significantly increased the contents of total milk fat, triglyceride, sphingomyelin, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the colostrum of gilts. Further study in porcine mammary epithelial cells (PMECs) confirmed that valine upregulated the phosphorylation levels of AKT-activated MTOR and subsequently induced the nuclear accumulation of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1), thus increasing the expression of proteins related to fatty acids synthesis and intracellular triacylglycerol content. Inhibition of AKT/MTOR signaling or silencing of SREBP1 in PMECs downregulates the expression of proteins related to fatty acids synthesis and intracellular triacylglycerol content. Our findings indicated that valine enhanced milk fat synthesis of colostrum in porcine mammary glands via the AKT/MTOR/SREBP1 signaling pathway.
Abstract Heat stress can affect growth performance and some physiological metabolism in finishing pigs. In this study, we investigated the effects of intermittent heat stress and arginine on the growth performance, intestinal health and liver metabolism of finishing pigs. Forty-eight Landrace barrow pigs (about 70kg) were randomly assigned to 6 groups, each group 8 pigs. The pigs were treated as follows: (1) LR (fed ad libitum at 22°C), (2) HR (ad libitum fed at 35°C), (3) LL(at 22°C, but fed the amount consumed by those kept at 35°C), (4) LR+1% Arg, (5) HR+1%Arg, (6) LL+1%Arg. The temperature of HR and HR+1%Arg groups was controlled for cycles of 35 ± 2 ℃ for 12 hours, 22 ± 2 ℃ for the other 12 hours. The experiment lasted for 30 days. The results showed that the ADFI and ADG of pigs in LR group were much higher than those in HR group or LL group, the latter having the highest F:G (P < 0.05). Jejunal HE staining results showed that heat stress decreased the villus height of jejunum and villus height to crypt depth ratio, adding 1% arginine can alleviate the damage by heat stress (P < 0.05). Heat stress decreased the abundance of transcripts of tight junction protein ZO-1, occludin and mucin-2 in the mucosa of the jejunum (P < 0.05). Moreover, dietary arginine supplementation increased occludin transcripts (P < 0.05). The results of hepatic metabolomics showed that heat stress significantly affected the metabolism of carbohydrate, energy and protein of liver (P < 0.05). In conclusion, these data indicated that intermittent heat stress has negatively influence on the intestinal health and liver metabolism of finishing pigs, and adding 1% arginine had a positive effect on intestinal mucosal morphology caused by heat stress.
Abstract Arginine, which is metabolized into ornithine, proline, and nitric oxide, plays an important role in embryonic development. The present study was conducted to investigate the molecular mechanism of arginine in proliferation, differentiation, and physiological function of porcine trophoblast cells (pTr2) through metabolic pathways. The results showed that arginine significantly increased cell viability (P<0.05). The addition of arginine had a quadratic tendency to increase the content of progesterone (P=0.06) and protein synthesis rate (P=0.03), in which the maximum protein synthesis rate was observed at 0.4 mM arginine. Arginine quadratically increased (P<0.05) the intracellular contents of spermine, spermidine and putrescine, as well as linearly increased (P<0.05) the intracellular content of NO in a dose-dependent manner. Arginine showed a quadratic tendency to increase the content of putrescine (P=0.07) and a linear tendency to increase NO content (P=0.09) in cell supernatant. Moreover, increasing arginine activated (P<0.05) the mRNA expressions for ARG, ODC, iNOS and PCNA. Furthermore, inhibitors of arginine metabolism (L-NMMA and DFMO) both inhibited cell proliferation, while addition of its metabolites (NO and putrescine) promoted the cell proliferation and cell cycle, the mRNA expressions of PCNA, EGF and IGF-I, and increased (P<0.05) cellular protein synthesis rate, as well as estradiol and hCG secretion (P<0.05).
Abstract Background: The objective of the present study was to determine the optimal standardized ileal digestible arginine to lysine (SID Arg: Lys) ratio on the reproductive performance, plasma free amino acids and biochemical parameters of sows during gestation , as well as colostrum compositions and performance of their offspring litter . Methods: A total of 174 multiparous sows (3+ parity,Landrace × Large white ) were randomly allocated to five treatment groups with different dietary SID Arg: Lys ratios (0.91, 1.02, 1.14, 1.25 and 1.38) by modifying the supplementation of Arg or alanine (Ala) for isonitrogenous equilibrium. All diets were formulated with the same composition levels including DE at 3.14 Mcal/kg and SID Lys at 0.64%. The reproductive performance of sows during gestation and lactation and the performance of offspring litters during lactation were evaluated. Blood samples were obtained on days 90 and 110 of gestation for analyses of plasma biochemical indexes and free amino acids, and colostrum samples were collected for determination of the composition. Results: The results showed that increasing the dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio increased litter size alive linearly ( P =0.001) and quadratically ( P =0.001), and decreased the number of stillborns linearly ( P <0.001) and quadratically ( P <0.001), and decreased the mummified size quadratically ( P =0.033). The birth weight variation of born alive was linearly ( P= 0.002) and quadratically ( P =0.008) reduced by increasing the dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio. The broken-line regression analysis indicated that the optimal SID Arg: Lys ratio requirement for gestating sows to maximize the litter size alive was 1.25. Birth intervals were decreased linearly ( P =0.025) and quadratically ( P =0.013) with increasing the dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio. There were linear and quadratic increases ( P <0.05) in the concentrations of colostrum compositions including non-fat solid, total solid, protein, and energy by increasing dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio. The plasma nitric oxide (NO) and total protein in serum were increased linearly as dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio increased. Similarly, sows feed the diet with higher SID Arg: Lys ratio significantly increased the concentrations of plasma arginine in sows at day 90 of gestation and ornithine ( P <0.05). Conclusion: Collectively, the current study indicated that increasing the dietary SID Arg: Lys ratio during gestation resulted in the increase of litter size alive, reduction of birth intervals, and improvement of colostrum composition. The requirement of optimal SID Arg:Lys ratio for gestating sows to maximize the litter size alive was 1.25 using a linear broken-line model.
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