Dietary Supplementation with Acanthopanax senticosus Extract Modulates Gut Microflora in Weaned Piglets

Fugui Yin,Sung Woo Kim,Yulong Yin,Yulan Liu,Tiejun Li,Ruilin Huang,Xugang Shu,Yongqing Hou,Guoyao Wu,Liangxi Tan,Jianhua Gong,Xiangfeng Kong,Lixiang Chen,Qinghua He

doi:10.5713/ajas.2008.70583

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Acanthopanax senticosus extract (ASE) as a dietary additive on gut microflora in weaned piglets. A total of sixty pigs were weaned at 21 d of age (BW = 5.64±0.23 kg) and allocated on the basis of BW and litter to three dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were: control group (basal diet), antibiotics group (basal diet+0.02% colistin), and ASE group (basal diet+0.1% ASE). On d 7, 14 and 28 after consuming the experimental diets, five piglets per group were sacrificed and then the contents from the jejunum, ileum and cecum were collected to determine changes in the microbial community by using a polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) technique and estimating the contents of Lactobacillus and E. coli by in vitro culturing methods. The results showed that the ASE promoted the microflora diversity in the cecum. Enumeration of bacteria in the gut contents showed that the number of Lactobacillus increased (p<0.05), while that of E. coli decreased (p<0.05) when compared with the other 2 groups as the days of age progressed post-weaning. These findings suggested that the ASE, as a substitute for dietary antimicrobial products, could improve the development of the normal gut microflora and suppress bacterial pathogens, and effectively promote a healthy intestinal environment.

Highlights

Natural weaning of piglets is a gradual process and occurs over several weeks or months
Surface plate counting technique will be used for enumeration of viable lactobacilli and E. coli by pour- Bacterial communities in contents of jejunal, ileal and plating on agar plate
The denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profile, based on counting of colonies growing on lactic acid sketch map and similarity indices of bacterial communities bacteria agar (Parentel et al, 2001), incubated anaerobic at from contents of jejunal, ileal and cecal in pigs fed the 37°C for 48 h

Summary

Introduction

Natural weaning of piglets is a gradual process and occurs over several weeks or months. It is well established that the enhancement of weanling pig immunity is very important to prevent or attenuate the occurrence of disease derived from the continual exposure of weanling piglets to a wide variety of microorganisms (Blecha and Charley, 1990; Han et al, 2007). Antimicrobial have traditionally been the first priority for the prevention.

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