Abstract
This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with fermented Mao-tai lees (FML) on growth performance, plasma metabolites, and intestinal microbiota and metabolites of weaned piglets. A total of 128 Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire piglets (28-days old) were randomly assigned to one of four groups, feeding a basal diet (control group), a basal diet supplemented with 2, 4 or 6% FML, respectively, for 42days. The results showed that dietary 4% FML supplementation had higher (p<0.05) average daily gain (ADG) and plasma triglyceride concentration during days 1–14 of the trial than the other FML supplemented groups. In addition, dietary 2 and 4% FML supplementation increased (p<0.05) the ADG during days 15–28 of the trial and plasma total protein concentration on day 42 of the trial compared with the 6% FML supplement. The plasma concentrations of arginine, ethanolamine, histidine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, proline, taurine, threonine, and tyrosine were increased (p<0.05) in the 4% FML group compared with the other three groups on day 14 of the trial. Dietary supplementation with 2–6% FML decreased (p<0.05) the plasma urea nitrogen concentration on day 14 of the trial and the abundance of Escherichia coli in the colon, and dietary 2 and 4% FML supplementation decreased (p<0.05) the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria compared with the control group. In the intestinal contents, a higher concentration of FML (6%) supplementation decreased (p<0.05) the colonic acetate concentration compared with the control and 2% FML groups, while 4% FML supplementation increased (p<0.05) the colonic cadaverine concentration compared with the other three groups. In conclusion, dietary 4% FML supplementation might contribute to the increased amino acids metabolism without affecting the growth performance of weaned piglets. Moreover, dietary 2 and 4% FML supplementation were also beneficial to intestinal health via decreasing the abundances of specific pathogens and increasing the concentrations of microbial metabolites in the gut, which provides the theoretical basis and data support for the application of FML in pigs.
Highlights
To reduce production costs, livestock producers have increased the use of agricultural by-products, including distillers dried grains with soluble (DDGS) of sorghum, wheat, corn, and rye, which can replace some conventional feedstuffs
The determined nutrient levels (%) of fermented Mao-tai lees (FML) based on dry matter content (92.97%) were as follows: ash, 9.28; crude protein (CP), 23.96; ether extract (EE), 5.39; crude fiber (CF), 17.67; acid detergent fiber (ADF), 38.06; neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 47.28; Ca, 0.53; P, 0.55; and gross energy (GE), 18.29 MJ/Kg (Li et al, 2019)
To evaluate the effects of FML on the growth performance of weaned piglets, the body weight (BW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed intake to BW gain (F/G) were measured at different stages of the trial
Summary
Livestock producers have increased the use of agricultural by-products, including distillers dried grains with soluble (DDGS) of sorghum, wheat, corn, and rye, which can replace some conventional feedstuffs. Mao-tai liquor is famous due to its unique production process, impressive liquor quality, and complex aromas (Wang et al, 2016). The production of Mao-tai liquor was 50,235.17 tons in Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. (2020), Guizhou, China (Annual Report, 2020), and the solid by-products (including lees) are estimated to be about 150,700 tons. After the processing and production of liquor, a large amount of solid by-products remained unused, which can cause resource waste and environmental pollution. The comprehensive utilization of Mao-tai lees (a common DDGS) in animal feed is conducive to the sustainable development of the wine industry and solves the problem of feedstuff shortage in animal husbandry
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