Maternal and/or direct supplementation with a combination of a casein hydrolysate and yeast β-glucan on postweaning performance and intestinal health in the pig

<p>A 2 <span>× </span>2 factorial experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of maternal supplementation from day 83 of gestation and/or direct supplementation from weaning of a bovine casein hydrolysate plus a yeast β‑glucan (CH-YBG) on pig performance and intestinal health on day ten post‑weaning. Twenty cross bred gilts <span>(Large White × Landrace) were randomly assigned to one of two dietary groups (<em>n</em> = 10 gilts/group): basal diet (basal sows) and basal diet supplemented with </span>CH‑YBG (supplemented sows)<span> from day 83 of gestation until weaning (2g/sow/day). At weaning, 120 pigs (6 pigs/sow) were selected. The two dam groups were further divided, resulting in four experimental groups (10 replicates/group; 3 pigs/pen) as follows: 1) BB (basal sows + basal pigs); 2) BS (basal sows + supplemented pigs); 3) SB (supplemented sows + basal pigs); 4) SS (supplemented sows + supplemented pigs). Supplemented pigs were offered 0.5g CH‑YBG/kg of feed for 10 days post-weaning. On day 10 post‑weaning, 1 pig/pen was humanely sacrificed and samples were taken from the gastrointestinal tract for analysis. Pigs weaned from supplemented sows (SS, SB) had reduced faecal scores and incidence of diarrhoea (P&lt;0.05) compared to pigs weaned from basal sows (BB, BS), with SS pigs not displaying the transient rise in faecal scores seen in the other three groups from day 3 to day 10 post‑weaning (P&lt;0.05). Pigs weaned from supplemented sows had reduced feed intake (P&lt;0.05), improved feed efficiency (P&lt;0.05), increased butyrate concentrations (P&lt;0.05), increased abundance of </span><em><span>Lactobacillus </span></em><span>(P&lt;0.05) </span><span>and decreased abundance of </span><em><span>Enterobacteriaceae</span></em><span><em> </em>and <em>Campylobacteraceae </em>(P&lt;0.05) compared to pigs weaned from basal sows. In conclusion, maternal supplementation increased the abundance of <em>Lactobacillus </em>and decreased the abundance of <em>Enterobacteriaceae </em>and <em>Campylobacteraceae </em>while also increasing butyrate concentrations. The combination of maternal and direct supplementation led to pigs having the lowest faecal scores compared to all other groups.</span></p>