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Stress caused by weaning can have effects at the cellular level and impact the types of bacteria that can grow and live in the piglet digestive system. Manganese and selenium, two mineral feed ingredients, can be provided to the weaned piglets to boost their stress defense. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of varying dietary manganese (Mn) and selenium (Se) concentrations, antioxidant cofactors, on the growth performance and fecal microbial populations of nursery pigs.
Methods: The piglets (N = 120) were blocked by weight (5.22 ± 0.7 kg) and sex. The pens (n = 5/treatment) within a block were randomly assigned to diets in a 2 × 3 factorial design to examine the effects of Se (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg added Se) and Mn (0, 12, and 24 mg/kg added Mn) and were fed in three phases (P1 = d 1–7, P2 = d 8–21, P3 = d 22–35). The pigs were weighed weekly. Fecal samples were collected day 0 and day 35 for 16S rRNA bacterial gene sequencing and volatile fatty acid analysis.
Results: There was a linear response in overall average daily gain across dietary Mn. There was no significant interaction or main effect on any volatile fatty acid parameter. Supplementing with 24 mg/kg of Mn tended to reduce the relative abundance of Massiliomicrobiota timonensis and Acidaminococcus fermentans a bacterium with pathogenic traits associated with less efficient piglets, compared to the Mn control group. Meanwhile, increasing Mn concentration tended to foster the growth of Lactobacillus ruminis and Roseburia hominis, bacteria correlated with gut health and improved growth.
Conclusion: The data from this study provide preliminary evidence on the positive effects of manganese on growth and gut health of nursery pigs.
Edmunds, C. E., Welch, C. B., Lourenco, J. M., Callaway, T. R., Pringle, T. D., & Dove, C. R. (2023). The effects of dietary manganese and selenium on growth and the fecal microbiota of nursery piglets. Veterinary Sciences, 10(11), 650. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10110650