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Dietary fiber can improve gut health by promoting bacterial community and increasing hindgut fermentation, preventing diarrhea and disease. Moreover, it has been reported that insoluble fiber can decrease the transit time of digesta, reducing at the same time the proliferation of pathogens. However, the usage of fiber type and its duration in piglet diets is still unclear. Therefore, it was hypothesized that dietary soluble fiber and/or insoluble fiber might cause different effects on piglet growth and health during different weaning stress phases. A total of thirty 24 ± 1 day-old piglets (BW 7.50 ± 0.31kg) were randomly allotted to five treatments (during 1–14 d and 15–28 d after weaning), and fed a basal diet (control), 1% insoluble dietary fiber diet (IDF), 1% soluble dietary fiber diet (SDF), 0.75% insoluble fiber + 0.25% soluble fiber diet during the first two weeks and 0.25% insoluble fiber + 0.75% soluble fiber diet during the last two weeks (CRMDF), and 0.5% insoluble fiber + 0.5% soluble dietary fiber diet (MDF).
As a result, MDF and IDF diets decreased the FCR in the first two weeks when compared to the control, whereas CRMDF and MDF diets showed a decreased FCR in the whole period. Concerning nutrient digestibility, CRMDF and MDF diets increased serum total protein and albumin concentrations in the piglets. All fiber groups showed a higher apparent total tract digestibility for dry matter, crude protein and organic matter than control group. Diet IDF up-regulated the mRNA level of sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) in the jejunum. Additionally, diets CRMDF and MDF up-regulated barrier function-related genes (OCLN, CLDN-1, MUC1, IL-10) mRNA levels in the ileum. Diets IDF and MDF also increased Lactobacillus amounts in the ileal digesta. Moreover, piglets fed IDF, CRMDF and MDF diets showed higher concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in their caecal digesta than control-fed piglets.
All in all, to promote growth performance and nutrient digestibility, feeding insoluble fiber in the first two weeks post-weaning might be more preferable over feeding soluble fiber. The combination of insoluble and soluble fiber in the whole experiment period had a better effect on growth performance, blood biochemical profile, nutrient digestibility, gut microbiota, and intestinal barrier functions than a single one.
Chen T, Chen D, Tian G, Zheng P, Mao X, Yu J, He J, Huang Z, Luo Y, Luo J, Yu B. Effects of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal microbe and barrier function in weaning piglet. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 2020; 260: 114335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114335