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Veterinary Sciences
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Impact of Nutritional Strategies on Weaned Pigs’ Growth Performance and...
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Impact of Nutritional Strategies on Weaned Pigs’ Growth Performance and Systemic and Intestinal Health

A special issue of Veterinary Sciences (ISSN 2306-7381). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases in Veterinary Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 May 2025 | Viewed by 7473

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xianren Jiang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Feed Research (IFR), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: pig nutrition; gut health; immunology; functional feed additives; weaning stress
Dr. Vera Perricone

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Milan, 26900 Lodi, Italy
Interests: animal science and technology; pig nutrition; poultry nutrition; microbiome; feed additives; gut health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. There is growing interest in the nutritional modulation of growth performance, intestinal health and immunity in piglets to overcome weaning stress. Postweaning diarrhea leads to serious economic loss in the swine industry as it causes increased mortality and morbidity and reduced growth in surviving pigs. Nutritional strategies, such as providing pigs with feed that is low in protein or dietary fiber or that contains bioactive compounds with anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and anti-bacterial properties, can impact the systemic and intestinal health of weaned piglets and consequently improve their growth performance. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present current knowledge of and recent progress in the modulation of growth and health in weaned piglets using nutritional strategies and bioactive compounds, and to highlight how they regulate nutrient metabolism in the host. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Antioxidant capacity;
  • Bioactive compounds;
  • Intestinal inflammation;
  • Metabolites;
  • Molecular nutrition;
  • Nutritional strategies;
  • Piglets;
  • Systemic health;
  • Weaning stress.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Xianren Jiang
Dr. Vera Perricone
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Veterinary Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antioxidant capacity
  • bioactive compounds
  • intestinal inflammation
  • metabolites
  • molecular nutrition
  • nutritional strategies
  • piglets
  • systemic health
  • weaning stress

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 244 KiB  
Article
Laminaria japonica Polysaccharides Improves the Growth Performance and Faecal Digestive Enzyme Activity of Weaned Piglets
by Chengwei Wang, Wenning Chen, Yun Xu, Shaomeng Fu, Jiamin Fu, Xiaohong Huang, Junfeng Xiao, Tao Liu and Xianren Jiang
Vet. Sci. 2024, 11(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11010011 - 25 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1985
Abstract
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of Laminaria japonica polysaccharide (LJP) supplementation at levels of 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg on the growth performance, faecal digestive enzyme activity, and serum biochemistry and amino acids of weaned piglets. One hundred [...] Read more.
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of Laminaria japonica polysaccharide (LJP) supplementation at levels of 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg on the growth performance, faecal digestive enzyme activity, and serum biochemistry and amino acids of weaned piglets. One hundred and twenty weaned piglets (Barkshire × Licha Black, 21 days old, 6.13 ± 0.16 kg) were randomly divided into four groups with five replicates of six piglets in each group based on body weight. Piglets were fed with different levels (0, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg) of LJP for a 21-day trial. On day 21, faecal and blood samples were collected from one piglet per pen. The results showed that the supplementation of the 200 and 400 mg/kg LJP significantly increased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) compared to the control group (p = 0.007; p = 0.002), and dietary LJP linearly increased ADG and ADFI (p = 0.002; p < 0.001). In addition, the supplementation of the 200 and 400 mg/kg LJP significantly increased faecal amylase activity (p < 0.001) compared to the control group, and dietary LJP linearly increased faecal amylase and lipase activities (p = 0.001; p = 0.037). Moreover, dietary LJP at 400 mg/kg increased serum histidine content compared to the other groups (p = 0.002), and dietary LJP linearly increased the contents of serum histidine and asparagine in piglets (p < 0.001; p = 0.046). In conclusion, supplementation of 200 and 400 mg/kg LJP could enhance growth performance and faecal digestive enzyme activity and modulate the serum amino acid content of weaned piglets, potentially contributing to the health of weaned piglets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Nutritional Strategies on Weaned Pigs’ Growth Performance and Systemic and Intestinal Health)
12 pages, 629 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Dietary Manganese and Selenium on Growth and the Fecal Microbiota of Nursery Piglets
by Clint E. Edmunds, Christina B. Welch, Jeferson M. Lourenco, Todd R. Callaway, T. Dean Pringle and C. Robert Dove
Vet. Sci. 2023, 10(11), 650; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10110650 - 10 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2198
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of varying dietary manganese and selenium concentrations, antioxidant cofactors, on the growth performance and fecal microbial populations of nursery pigs. The piglets (N = 120) were blocked by weight (5.22 ± 0.7 [...] Read more.
The objective of this study was to determine the impact of varying dietary manganese and selenium concentrations, antioxidant cofactors, on the growth performance and fecal microbial populations of nursery pigs. The piglets (N = 120) were blocked by weight (5.22 ± 0.7 kg) and sex. The pens (n = 5/treatment) within a block were randomly assigned to diets in a 2 × 3 factorial design to examine the effects of Se (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg added Se) and Mn (0, 12, and 24 mg/kg added Mn) and were fed in three phases (P1 = d 1–7, P2 = d 8–21, P3 = d 22–35). The pigs and orts were weighed weekly. Fecal samples were collected d 0 and 35 for 16S rRNA bacterial gene sequencing and VFA analysis. The data were analyzed as factorial via GLM in SAS. There was a linear response (p < 0.05) in overall ADG across dietary Mn. Supplementing 24 mg/kg Mn tended to decrease (p < 0.10) the relative abundance of many bacteria possessing pathogenic traits relative to Mn controls. Meanwhile, increasing Mn concentration tended to foster the growth of bacteria correlated with gut health and improved growth (p < 0.10). The data from this study provide preliminary evidence on the positive effects of manganese on growth and gut health of nursery pigs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Nutritional Strategies on Weaned Pigs’ Growth Performance and Systemic and Intestinal Health)
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13 pages, 618 KiB  
Article
The Administration of Inactivated and Stabilized Whole-Cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Gestating Sows Improves Lactation Efficiency and Post-Weaning Antimicrobial Use
by Annalisa Scollo, Irene Borello, Marco Ghilardi and Alberto Cavagnini
Vet. Sci. 2023, 10(9), 576; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10090576 - 18 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2066
Abstract
Increasingly hyperprolific sows and the need to reduce antibiotics represent challenges in pig farming. The aim of this work was to determine the effects of a postbiotic obtained from inactivated and stabilized whole-cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, administered during the sow’s gestation, on [...] Read more.
Increasingly hyperprolific sows and the need to reduce antibiotics represent challenges in pig farming. The aim of this work was to determine the effects of a postbiotic obtained from inactivated and stabilized whole-cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, administered during the sow’s gestation, on the performance of the mother and litter. Maternal feed intake, productive parameters, colostrum quality and post-weaning piglets’ health were assessed, including antibiotic consumption. The trial involved 183 sows, divided into two groups: (1) sows fed with a daily supplementation of postbiotic during gestation (n = 90); (2) sows without any supplement (n = 93). Piglets were followed up at two different post-weaning sites. The lactation efficiency of the treated sows improved by +5.9% (41.3 ± 11.4 vs. 35.4 ± 11.6%; p = 0.011). Lactating piglets’ mortality was lower in the treated group (25.1 ± 16.7 vs. 28.8 ± 14.4%; p = 0.048). The same tendency was shown in both the weaning sites, together with a reduced antibiotic consumption in weaning site 1 (0.72 ± 0.25 vs. 1.22 ± 0.30 DDDvet/PCU; p = 0.047). The results suggest the role of this postbiotic administered to the mother in improving the health status of the piglets. Furthermore, lactation efficiency is suggested as an interesting parameter for assessing the efficiency of farming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Nutritional Strategies on Weaned Pigs’ Growth Performance and Systemic and Intestinal Health)
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