Dietary Inulin Improves Pork Quality and Systemic Health Via Gut Microbiome and Metabolome Modulation in Finishing Pigs

Abstract Background Inulin is widely recognized for its ability to improve glucolipid metabolism and modulate the gut microbiome and metabolome. However, the potential to influence pork flavor development through gut environment changes in animal husbandry remains unexplored. This study investigated the relationships among systemic health, meat flavor, gut microbiome, and metabolome in pigs fed a diet supplemented with inulin. Thirty-six male Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire pigs (75.0 ± 1.5 kg) were divided into 2 groups, and fed either a regular diet (CON group) or a diet containing 0.5% inulin (INU group) for 60 d. Results Inulin supplementation did not adversely affect production or slaughter performance (P> 0.05) but enhanced systemic health by improving serum biochemistry indicators (P < 0.05). Additionally, it increased the level of C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, and glutamic acid in pork (P < 0.05), while modulating the gut microbiome to reduce alpha-diversity and increase specific microbes including Escherichia-Shigella, UCG-005, Streptococcus, Terrisporobacter, Lactobacillus, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Romboutsia, Family_Xlll_AD3011_group, Roseburia, and Turicibacter. Furthermore, inulin supplementation significantly altered metabolic pathways, down-regulating arginine biosynthesis, linoleic acid metabolism, riboflavin metabolism, and alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. These microbial and metabolic changes strongly correlated with the observed improvements in pork quality and flavor. Conclusion Dietary inulin supplementation is recommended to enhance pork quality and systemic health without compromising productive performance.