Effects of dietary supplementation of bovine lactoferrin on growth performance, immune function and intestinal health in weaning piglets

Weaning is a crucial period in the pig’s life cycle, which is frequently followed by gastrointestinal (GI) infections, diarrhea and even death. This study focused on the impact of bovine lactoferrin (bLF) supplementation on the intestinal health of weaning piglets. Weaning piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 23 days) were randomly allocated into four groups, which included negative control group (CON): basic diet; positive control group (ANT): basic diet + 20 mg/kg flavomycin + 100 mg/kg aureomycin; treatment group bLF-A: basic diet + 1 g/kg bLF; treatment group bLF-B: basic diet + 3 g/kg bLF. The result showed that dietary supplementation of bLF can improve growth performance and reduce diarrhea, which exhibits dose-dependency (P < 0.05). Compared with CON group, supplementation with bLF significantly improved immunity, and increased villus height and ratio of villus height/crypt depth at the small intestinal mucosa (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of claudin-1, occludin and ZO-1 was greatly increased in the ileum of bLF group on days 7 and 14 (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the supplementation of bLF increased the abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and decreased the abundance of Escherichia coli in the cecum on day 7 (P < 0.05). The dietary supplementation of bLF enhanced the growth performance, reduced diarrhea rate in weaning piglets by improving intestinal immunity, morphology and barrier function, balancing intestinal microbiota. And bLF can be a promising feed additive in relieving stress situation of weaning piglets.