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Pregnant sows suffer from a variety of physiological stress conditions, which can adversely affect the sow and their performance. Recent studies reported that the metabolites of intestinal microbiota can reduce the oxidative stress experienced by sows during pregnancy. Many studies have shown that forage grasses application can affect sow gut microbiota composition and improve sow health. Therefore, it was hypothesized for the first time that the appropriate additive of Pennisetum purpureum (P. purpureum, also known as Napier grass or elephant grass) in the diet of sows in late gestation can improve the antioxidant capacity and immune function, as well as alter the composition of the intestinal microbiota. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding P. purpureum to the diets of late gestation on the antioxidant indexes, immune indexes and faecal microbiota of sows. For that purpose, at 90 days of gestation, 300 healthy sows were randomly divided into three groups, and they received the basic commercial diet or added 5% P. purpureum and 10% P. purpureum, respectively. The experiment started from 90 days of gestation to parturition.
The results showed that the total antioxidant capacity, immunoglobulins and serum equol concentrations of sows on 100 days of gestation and at parturition increased linearly with the increase of the content of P. purpureum in the gestation diet. The 5% P. purpureum increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria at phylum level, Coriobacteriaceae at family level and Prevotellaceae_UCG_001 at genus level, and decreased the relative abundance of Escherichia_Shigella at genus level.
In summary, the present study shows that the additive of P. purpureum can increase the concentration of serum equol, improve the antioxidant capacity and immune function of sow in late gestation. In addition, the additive of 5% P. purpureum in the diet might change the composition of intestinal microbiota of sows, particularly the relative abundance of Coriobacteriaceae increased.
Huang PF, Mou Q, Yang Y, Li JM, Xu ML, Huang J, Li JZ, Yang HS, Liang XX, Yin YL. Effects of supplementing sow diets during late gestation with Pennisetum purpureum on antioxidant indices, immune parameters and faecal microbiota. Veterinary Medicine and Science. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.450