Dose-response and functional role of whey permeate as a source of lactose and milk oligosaccharides on intestinal health and growth of nursery pigs.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate dose-response and supplemental effects of whey permeate on growth performance and intestinal health of nursery pigs. In Exp. 1, 1,080 pigs weaned at 6.24 kg body weight (BW) were allotted to 5 treatments (8 pens/treatment) with increasing levels of whey permeate in 3 phases (from 10 to 30%, 3 to 23%, and 0 to 9% for phase 1, 2, and 3, respectively) fed until 11 kg BW and then fed a common phase 4 diet (0% whey permeate) until 25 kg BW in a 48 d feeding trial. Feed intake and BW were measured at the end of each phase. In Exp. 2, 1,200 nursery pigs at 7.50 kg BW were allotted to 6 treatments (10 pens/treatment) with increasing levels of whey permeate from 0 to 18.75% fed until 11 kg BW. Feed intake and BW were measured during 11 d. Six pigs per treatment (1 per pens) were euthanized to collect the jejunum to evaluate tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-8 (IL-8), transforming growth factor beta 1, mucin 2, histomorphology, digestive enzyme activity, crypt cell proliferation rate, and jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota. Data were analyzed using contrasts in the MIXED procedure and a broken-line analysis using the NLIN procedure of SAS. In Exp. 1, increasing whey permeate had quadratic effect (P < 0.05) on feed efficiency (G:F; maximum: 1.35 at 18.3%) in phase 1. Increasing whey permeate linearly increased (P < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG; 292 to 327 g/d) and G:F (0.96 to 1.04) of pigs in phase 2. In Exp. 2, increasing whey permeate linearly increased (P < 0.05) ADG (349 to 414 g/d) and G:F (0.78 to 0.85), and linearly increased (P < 0.05) crypt cell proliferation rate (27.8 to 37.0%). The breakpoint from a broken-line analysis was obtained at 13.6% whey permeate for maximal G:F. Increasing whey permeate tended to change IL-8 (quadratic, P = 0.052; maximum: 223 pg/mg at 10.9%), to decrease Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes (P = 0.073, 1.59 to 1.13), increase (P = 0.089) Bifidobacteriaceae (0.73 to 1.11%), and to decrease Enterobacteriaceae (P = 0.091, 1.04 to 0.52%) and Stretococcaceae (P = 0.094, 1.50 to 0.71%) in the jejunal mucosa. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of whey permeate increased growth of nursery pigs from 7 to 11 kg BW. Pigs grew most efficiently with 13.6% whey permeate. Improvement in growth performance partly attributed from stimulating intestinal immune response and enterocyte proliferation with positive changes in jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota in nursery pigs.