Interpretive Summary: Modulation of jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota in relation to intestinal health and nutrient digestibility in pigs by supplementation of β-glucanase to corn–soybean meal-based diets with xylanase
By Anne Zinn
A study recently published in the Journal of Animal Science aimed to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of β-glucanase on the modulation of jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota in relation to nutrient digestibility and intestinal health of pigs fed diets with 30% corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles and xylanase. A recent study, Chen et al. (2020) evaluated the effects of increasing levels of xylanase on intestinal health and growth performance of nursery pigs and demonstrated that xylanase effectively enhanced intestinal health and growth performance of nursery pigs. Based on this information, the present study further evaluated the effects of increasing levels of β-glucanase in feeds containing 1,500 endo-pentosanase units xylanase/kg. The research team hypothesized that β-glucanase would hydrolyze β-glucan reducing digesta viscosity, increasing the digestibility of nutrients, increasing proliferation of health benefiting microbiota in the jejunal mucosa, and thus enhancing the intestinal health and growth of nursery pigs fed diets with xylanase.
Results of the present study demonstrated that increasing β-glucanase up to 600 U/kg feed in a diet containing xylanase modulated mucosa-associated microbiota by increasing the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria and reducing potentially harmful bacteria. Additionally, increasing β-glucanase up to 600 U/kg feed in a diet containing xylanase enhanced the status of intestinal environment and the nutrient utilization as well as reduced the systemic inflammation of pigs, collectively resulting in a moderate improvement of growth performance. Overall, supplementing β-glucanase at a range of 312 to 410 U/kg feed with xylanase at 1,500 endo-pentosanase units/kg feed showed the most benefit on mucosa-associated microbiota in the jejunum and reduced systemic inflammation of pigs.
The full paper can be found on the Journal of Animal Science webpage.
