Effects of microencapsulated Enterococcus fecalis and enzyme supplementation on piglet response to an Escherichia coli (K88) challenge

Abstract Text:

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of dietary probiotic microencapsulated Enterococcus fecalis and multi-enzyme complex (MC) in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 (ETEC)-challenged piglets fed wheat-barley soybean based diets. Thirty six, 21-d old weanling pigs with an initial BW of 6.7 ± 0.6 kg were allotted in a completely randomized design to 4 dietary treatments; a wheat-barley soybean based negative control (NC) with no antimicrobial growth promoters (Diet A), NC + MC (Diet B), NC + probiotic (Diet C) and NC + MC + probiotic (Diet D). Piglets were housed individually in cages. Diets were formulated to meet or exceed NRC 2012 specifications for weaned pigs. MC supplied 500, 50, 400, 1200, 450, and 45 units of pectinase, cellulase, mannanase, xylanase, glucanase, and galactanase, respectively, per kilogram of diet. The probiotic was added at the rate of 10 mg (1.0 × 10¹¹ cfu/g) per kilogram of diet. Pigs were acclimated to treatments for a 7-d period. On d 8, pigs were weighed, blood sampled for determining baseline immunological parameters (IL6 and TNF α) and then orally challenged with 6 mL (5 × 10¹⁰ cfu/mL) of the freshly grown ETEC K88 inoculum. At 6, 12, 24, 48 and 150 h post-challenge, blood samples were taken, performance measures and fecal consistency scores were recorded and on d 14 all pigs were killed to obtain intestinal tissue and digesta samples to evaluate GIT morphology, microbial ecology, and immunological parameters. Data were analyzed using the mixed model procedures of SAS. No significant enzyme x probiotic interaction was observed for any of the parameters evaluated. During pre-challenge, pigs receiving enzyme, probiotic and combination of both improved the ADG (P = 0.03) by 49, 62 and 51% and G:F (P = 0.04) by 25, 32 and 32%, respectively. However, during the post-challenge period only a numerical improvement in G:F was observed for Diet C when compared with Diet A (0.70 vs. 0.59). Also, Pigs fed Diet C had greater (P = 0.05) ileal villus height than those receiving the NC. Moreover, Diet C significantly reduced the severity of diarrhea (P = 0.04) by 12% during the challenge phase compared to pigs fed NC. In summary, the results indicate that dietary supplementation of microencapsulated Enterococcus fecalis in weaned pigs challenged with ETEC was effective in maintaining gut health and thereby controlling post weaning diarrhoea.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, probiotic, piglets.