Maternal Supplementation With a Casein Hydrolysate and Yeast Beta-glucan From Late Gestation Through Lactation Improves Gastrointestinal Health of Piglets at Weaning

Improving maternal nutrition during pregnancy/lactation is a promising strategy to maximise the intestinal health of piglets undergoing abrupt weaning under commercial production conditions. This experiment investigated the effects of maternal supplementation of a casein hydrolysate and yeast β-glucan (CH-YBG) from d83 of gestation until weaning (d28) on sow faecal microbial populations and measures of piglet gastrointestinal health parameters at weaning. Sows (n = 10 sows/group) were assigned to: 1) control diet, and 2) control diet + CH-YBG. Maternal supplementation increased the abundance of the phylum Firmicutes, including members Lactobacillus and Christensella in the sows faeces, with a concomitant increase in the caecal and colonic abundance of Lactobacillus and caecal abundance of Christensella in the weaned piglets compared to the controls . Piglets weaned from the supplemented sows had increased villus height in the duodenum (P < 0·05) and increased villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum, as well as a decreased expression of the proinflammatory cytokine genes ( IL6 / TNF / TGFB) , the tight junction gene CLDN3 and the mucin gene MUC2 in the duodenum/jejunum compared to the controls (P < 0.05). In conclusion, maternal CH-YBG supplementation during pregnancy/lactation improved microbial, structural, and inflammatory measures of gastrointestinal health of piglets at weaning. This is a promising strategy to alleviate the challenges that occur with early abrupt weaning in commercial pig production.