Dietary supplementation with flaxseed meal and oat hulls modulates intestinal histomorphometric characteristics, digesta- and mucosa-associated microbiota in pigs

S P Ndou,C M Nyachoti,M C Walsh,E Kiarie,H M Tun,E Khafipour

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24043-5

S P Ndou, C M Nyachoti + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24043-5

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Abstract

The establishment of a healthy gastrointestinal milieu may not only offer an opportunity to reduce swine production costs but could also open the way for a lifetime of human health improvement. This study investigates the effects of feeding soluble fibre from flaxseed meal-containing diet (FM) and insoluble fibre from oat hulls-containing diet (OH) on histomorphological characteristics, digesta- and mucosa-associated microbiota and their associations with metabolites in pig intestines. In comparison with the control (CON) and OH diets, the consumption of FM increased (P < 0.001) the jejunal villi height (VH) and the ratio of VH to crypt depths. The PERMANOVA analyses showed distinct (P < 0.05) microbial communities in ileal digesta and mucosa, and caecal mucosa in CON and FM-diets fed pigs compared to the OH diet-fed pigs. The predicted functional metagenomes indicated that amino acids and butanoate metabolism, lysine degradation, bile acids biosynthesis, and apoptosis were selectively enhanced at more than 2.2 log-folds in intestinal microbiota of pigs fed the FM diet. Taken together, flaxseed meal and oat hulls supplementation in growing pigs’ diets altered the gastrointestinal development, as well as the composition and function of microbial communities, depending on the intestinal segment and physicochemical property of the dietary fibre source.

Highlights

Supplementing swine diets with agricultural and industrial co-products increases the dietary fibre (DF) content, which can alter the gastrointestinal (GI) milieu
The present study is the first to compare the effects of feeding flaxseed meal and oat hulls on intestinal histomorphological features and digesta and mucosa-associated microbiota
Gut microbiota can modulate the pool and composition of both bile acids (BA) and short chain fatty acids (SCFA), and in turn, these GI metabolites alter the richness and diversity of communal structure of intestinal microbiome[3,4], but there is limited research about effects of practical sources of DF fed to farmed animals

Summary

Introduction

Supplementing swine diets with agricultural and industrial co-products increases the dietary fibre (DF) content, which can alter the gastrointestinal (GI) milieu. It is intriguing to note that even when pigs are fed nutritionally balanced diets that are supplemented with fibrous ingredients and supplemental fat, growth performance is depressed[6,7,8] This has stimulated further interests in understanding the relationships between SCFA and BA flows, dietary fat absorption, lipid metabolism-related blood metabolites and gut microbiota composition and function, but there is limited research to determine the effects of different DF sources and/or types. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of soluble fibre from flaxseed meal and insoluble fibre from oat hulls on histomorphological characteristics of ileal mucosa and microbiota composition and their association with gastrointestinal and blood lipid-related metabolites in the ileal- and caecal-digesta and mucosa of growing pigs fed corn and soybean meal-based diet. A bioinformatic approach (PICRUSt) was used to predict the functional properties of ileal and caecal digesta- and mucosa-associated microbial communities

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