Effects of dietary tributyrin and physterol ester supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota and metabolites in weaned piglets

Aim This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary tributyrin (TB) and physterol ester (PSE) supplementation on the growth performance and intestinal health of weaned piglets. Methods and Results Ninety-six piglets were randomly allocated to one of four groups, including a control group (basal diet), TB group (basal diet + 1500 g t(-1) TB), PSE group (basal diet + 300 g t(-1) PSE) and TB + PSE group (basal diet + 1500 g t(-1) TB + 300 g t(-1) PSE). All groups had eight replicates with three piglets per replicate. The experiment lasted for 28 days. The results showed that dietary TB supplementation increased (p < 0.05) average daily feed intake and average daily gain, as well as the acetate and butyrate concentration in ileum, and dietary PSE supplementation decreased (p < 0.05) the ratio of feed to gain (F/G) on days 1-14 of the trial. Dietary TB or PSE alone supplementation improved the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (VH/CD) and the expression level of Occludin in ileum. The linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis identified eight biomarkers in the control group, 18 in the TB + PSE group, two in the PSE group in ileum respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the relative abundances of Enterococcus, and Streptococcus were positively correlated (p < 0.05) with propionate concentration, while the relative abundance of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with acetate concentration in ileum. Conclusion These findings suggest that dietary TB or PSE alone supplementation could alter the growth performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota community and metabolites of weaned piglets. Significance and Impact of the Study Weaning stress is a major cause of slow growth and increased diarrhoea in piglets. This study demonstrated that dietary TB and PSE presented a beneficial role in growth performance and gut health via regulating intestinal morphology, microbiota composition and metabolites.