Abstract
Ongoing challenges in the swine industry, such as reduced access to antibiotics and virus outbreaks (e.g., porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, African swine fever virus), have prompted calls for innovative feed additives to support pig production. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) and monoglycerides have emerged as a potential option due to key molecular features and versatile functions, including inhibitory activity against viral and bacterial pathogens. In this review, we summarize recent studies examining the potential of MCFAs and monoglycerides as feed additives to improve pig gut health and to mitigate feed pathogens. The molecular properties and biological functions of MCFAs and monoglycerides are first introduced along with an overview of intervention needs at different stages of pig production. The latest progress in testing MCFAs and monoglycerides as feed additives in pig diets is then presented, and their effects on a wide range of production issues, such as growth performance, pathogenic infections, and gut health, are covered. The utilization of MCFAs and monoglycerides together with other feed additives such as organic acids and probiotics is also described, along with advances in molecular encapsulation and delivery strategies. Finally, we discuss how MCFAs and monoglycerides demonstrate potential for feed pathogen mitigation to curb disease transmission. Looking forward, we envision that MCFAs and monoglycerides may become an important class of feed additives in pig production for gut health improvement and feed pathogen mitigation.
Highlights
Antibiotics have long been used in the swine industry for therapeutic purposes, as they are in human medicine, to prevent severe clinical disease and death [1]
A recent addition to vaccines, therapeutic drugs, and immune enhancers is medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), especially saturated Medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) with 6–12 carbon-long chains, which have demonstrated positive benefits as feed additives by improving animal health, production, and feed digestibility [11]. These efforts have built on pioneering works that utilized mediumchain triglycerides (MCTs) as feed additives in conjunction with lipolytic enzymes, called lipases, that can catalyze in vivo MCT hydrolysis and subsequent release of biologically active MCFAs and monoglyceride derivatives to support pig growth and development [12–15]
The combined health-promoting and pathogen-mitigating functions of MCFAs and monoglycerides are significant in light of the expanding African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) epidemic, which highlights the devastation of, and urgency to address, virus outbreaks in the swine industry [18]
Summary
Antibiotics have long been used in the swine industry for therapeutic purposes, as they are in human medicine, to prevent severe clinical disease and death [1]. MCFAs and monoglycerides exhibit antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities This combination of membrane-related biological functions, plus the high barrier to resistance development and potential to inhibit both bacteria and enveloped viruses, makes them interesting additive candidates for potential feed pathogen mitigation and for improving enteric health in weaned pigs. Other pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and Lawsonia intracellularis cause significant changes in the pig gut microbiome [61] In light of these different production challenges, feed additives such as MCFAs and monoglycerides might play important roles as growth permittants by improving enteric health and by improving the immune response in weaned pigs. Linear dose-dependent improvements in ADG, average daily feed intake (ADFI),
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