Meiwei Wang1, Huijun Huang1, Yangping Hu1, Yiting Liu1, Xiao Zeng1, Yu Zhuang1, Huansheng Yang1, Lei Wang1, Shuai Chen2, Lanmei Yin1, Shengwen He3, Shuo Zhang4, Xiaozhen Li4, Shanping He1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Developmental Biology of Freshwater Fish, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Intestinal Function and Regulation, Hunan International Joint Laboratory of Animal Intestinal Ecology and Health, School of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha City, Hunan, China. 2. Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Research Center for Healthy Breeding of Livestock and Poultry, Hunan Engineering and Research Center of Animal and Poultry Science and Key Laboratory for Agroecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Scientific Observation and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Changsha City, Hunan, China. 3. Anhui Tianan Biotechnology Company Limited, Luan City, Anhui, China. 4. Yunnan Yin Yulong Academician Workstation, Yunnan Xinan Tianyou Animal Husbandry Technology Company Limited, Kunming City, Yunnan, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many countries are increasingly prohibiting the addition of antibiotics in livestock diets. Therefore, herb extracts have gradually drawn attention to substitute antibiotics. Our present study aimed to determine the effects of herbal extract mixture (HEM) in dietary on growth performance, organ weight, intestinal morphology and intestinal nutrient transporters in weaned pigs. METHODS: 27 piglets (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire]; Body Weight (BW) = 5.99 ± 0.13 kg) were weaned at day 21 and randomly divided into three groups (n = 9 piglets/group). All piglets received a basal diet containing similar amounts of nutrients for 14 days. The three groups were the control (no additive), the antibiotics (375 mg/kg chlortetracycline, 20%, 500 mg/kg enramycin, 4%, 1,500 mg/kg oxytetracycline calcium, 50%) and the HEM group (1000 mg/kg extract mixture of golden-and-silver honeysuckle, huangqi, duzhong leaves and dangshen). After 14 d of treatment, we collected tissue samples to measure organ weight, intestinal parameters, intestinal morphology, digestive enzyme activities and intestinal mRNA expression of nutrient transporters. RESULTS: The HEM group had no effects on growth performance and organ weight of weaned pigs. But compared with the control group, both HEM and antibiotics improved intestinal morphology, and HEM elevated the expression of nutrient transporters in ileum (SLC6A9, SLC15A1, and SLC5A1). HEM significantly decreased the activities of maltase in ileum and the ratio of small intestinal weight to BW than control group. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate benefit effects of the supplementation of HEM in diet, including modulating intestinal morphology and increasing the mRNA expression of nutrients transporters. These findings suggest that HEM provides novel insights into a variety of herbal extract mixtures to replace antibiotics in animal production.
BACKGROUND: Many countries are increasingly prohibiting the addition of antibiotics in livestock diets. Therefore, herb extracts have gradually drawn attention to substitute antibiotics. Our present study aimed to determine the effects of herbal extract mixture (HEM) in dietary on growth performance, organ weight, intestinal morphology and intestinal nutrient transporters in weaned pigs. METHODS: 27 piglets (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire]; Body Weight (BW) = 5.99 ± 0.13 kg) were weaned at day 21 and randomly divided into three groups (n = 9 piglets/group). All piglets received a basal diet containing similar amounts of nutrients for 14 days. The three groups were the control (no additive), the antibiotics (375 mg/kg chlortetracycline, 20%, 500 mg/kg enramycin, 4%, 1,500 mg/kg oxytetracycline calcium, 50%) and the HEM group (1000 mg/kg extract mixture of golden-and-silver honeysuckle, huangqi, duzhong leaves and dangshen). After 14 d of treatment, we collected tissue samples to measure organ weight, intestinal parameters, intestinal morphology, digestive enzyme activities and intestinal mRNA expression of nutrient transporters. RESULTS: The HEM group had no effects on growth performance and organ weight of weaned pigs. But compared with the control group, both HEM and antibiotics improved intestinal morphology, and HEM elevated the expression of nutrient transporters in ileum (SLC6A9, SLC15A1, and SLC5A1). HEM significantly decreased the activities of maltase in ileum and the ratio of small intestinal weight to BW than control group. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate benefit effects of the supplementation of HEM in diet, including modulating intestinal morphology and increasing the mRNA expression of nutrients transporters. These findings suggest that HEM provides novel insights into a variety of herbal extract mixtures to replace antibiotics in animal production.