Abstract This study evaluated the effects of a xylanase and β-glucanase combination (XB) supplemented to low and high non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) diets fed to post-weaning pigs on growth performance and tissue transcriptomic profile. A total of 80 entire male piglets (LR x LW) x Duroc, 8.6±0.42 kg body weight (BW) weaned from 5 batches at 28 days of age were individually allocated to 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design, with NSP and XB as main effects. Two diets were formulated to have similar digestible amino acid and net energy density with 2 NSP levels. Low NSP diet (LNSP) was based on corn (50%) and soybean meal, whereas high NSP (HNSP) diet included barley, wheat, corn, wheat bran and rapeseed meal. Analyzed total NSP levels were 7.8 and 12.0% for LNSP and HNSP, respectively. Diets were fed in mash for 14 days. Growth performance was individually measured including body weight, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). On day 14, piglets were euthanized to obtain ileum samples for RNA extraction and mRNA sequencing (Novogene, UK). Gene expression data was quality control checked and processed using SAVVY platform (Biofractal, Portugal). Genes were ranked based on an estimation of logarithmic fold change using DeSeq2, and the significance of differential expression was tested with reference to biologically significant thresholds. In addition, a Quantitative Pathway Activation (QPA) algorithm was used to quantify the activation or inhibition of biological pathways. Individual performance data was analyzed in a 2 × 2 factorial linear mixed model with NSP and XB as main effects and batch and sow parity as random effects (R 4.4.2). Increasing NSP significantly increased FCR (1.37 vs. 1.20, P 0.01). The supplementation of XB increased ADFI (269 vs. 237 g/d, P 0.05), ADG (227 vs. 185 g/d, P 0.05) and reduced FCR (1.22 vs. 1.36, P 0.05) regardless of the diet type (for all interactions, P 0.1). The ileum transcriptomics profile of pigs fed XB diets revealed an upregulated mTOR activation (P adj. 0.05) that would support higher intestinal development and lean tissue deposition. These effects could be linked to improved performance with XB. Additionally, XB supplementation in HNSP diets tended to upregulate gut-brain axis pathways such as leptin mediated signaling (greatest phenotypic association with feed intake effects) and ghrelin expression (P adj. 0.10) - which could explain the enhanced feed intake and growth. In conclusion, these novel findings demonstrate the beneficial effect of XB supplementation in enhancing feed intake and feed efficiency in weaning pigs, likely through modulation of the gut-brain axis and protein synthesis. These effects support a smoother transition to solid feed at the critical time of weaning.
Aymerich et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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