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Postweaned Iberian piglets (10.5 ± 0.1 kg BW) were randomly assigned to 5 experimental isoenergetic diets (14.2 MJ ME/kg DM) based on corn, barley, and soybean meal (10 piglets/diet). Diets provided increasing Lys concentrations (7 to 11 g Lys/kg DM) at a constant CP content (166 ± 0.5 g/kg DM); the rest of the nutrients remained constant and in sufficient amounts. Piglets were fed ad libitum until 25.1 ± 0.4 kg BW, when 5 piglets per treatment were slaughtered. Feed intake and BW were recorded daily and weekly, respectively. At slaughter, viscera were weighed and samples of small intestine from the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum quickly were collected for microanatomical analyses to test the effect of Lys concentration of dietary protein on intestinal morphology. Microtome sections of 3 to 5 µm of thickness were performed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Villus height, villus diameter, crypt depth, and crypt diameter were determined. Average daily feed intake was not modified by dietary Lys concentration. Average daily gain and G:F linearly increased (P < 0.001) on increasing Lys content. The effect of dietary Lys on gut morphology differed between intestinal segments. In the duodenum, villus height decreased on increasing Lys concentration following linear and cubic patterns (P = 0.002); the villus height:crypt depth ratio (V:C) followed the same pattern as villus height. In the jejunum and ileum, a linear and cubic increase on villus height was observed as dietary Lys increased (P < 0.02-0.001). In the jejunum, the V:C was not affected on increasing dietary Lys, whereas in the ileum, the V:C followed an increasing cubic pattern (P = 0.002). Crypt depth was, in general, not affected. Although increased villus height in the jejunum and ileum could contribute to the enhanced performance observed as dietary Lys increased, further studies are required to investigate the relevance of physiological effects of dietary Lys on gut function and its involvement on changes in intestinal morphology of piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Physiology of the exocrine pancreas has been well studied in domestic and in laboratory animals as well as in humans. However, it remains quite unknown in wildlife mammals. Roe deer and cattle (including calf) belong to different families but have a common ancestor. This work aimed to evaluate in the Roe deer, the adaptation to diet of the exocrine pancreatic functions and regulations related to animal evolution and domestication. Results Forty bovine were distributed into 2 groups of animals either fed exclusively with a milk formula (monogastric) or fed a dry feed which allowed for rumen function to develop, they were slaughtered at 150 days of age. The 35 Roe deer were wild animals living in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, shot during the hunting season and classified in two groups adult and young. Immediately after death, the pancreas was removed for tissue sample collection and then analyzed. When expressed in relation to body weight, pancreas, pancreatic protein weights and enzyme activities measured were higher in Roe deer than in calf. The 1st original feature is that in Roe deer, the very high content in pancreatic enzymes seems to be related to specific digestive products observed (proline-rich proteins largely secreted in saliva) which bind tannins, reducing their deleterious effects on protein digestion. The high chymotrypsin and elastase II quantities could allow recycling of proline-rich proteins. In contrast, domestication and rearing cattle resulted in simplified diet with well digestible components. The 2nd feature is that in wild animal, both receptor subtypes of the CCK/gastrin family peptides were present in the pancreas as in calf, although CCK-2 receptor subtype was previously identified in higher mammals. Conclusions Bovine species could have lost some digestive capabilities (no ingestion of great amounts of tannin-rich plants, capabilities to secrete high amounts of proline-rich proteins) compared with Roe deer species. CCK and gastrin could play an important role in the regulation of pancreatic secretion in Roe deer as in calf. This work, to the best of our knowledge is the first study which compared the Roe deer adaptation to diet with a domesticated animal largely studied.

This study evaluated the effects of nutritional supplementation with a blend of essential oils (EO, thymol and cinnamaldehyde) and an enzyme combination (XB, xylanase and β-glucanase), given alone or together, on growth performance, microbial counts, ileum microscopic anatomy and the expression of inflammatory mediators in weaned piglets challenged with Escherichia coli K88. One hundred and ninety-two weaned piglets were allocated to 8 treatments in a 35-day experiment with a 2 × 4 factorial design that compared 2 levels of oral E. coli challenge [sham (−) or infected (+)] under different dietary treatments [fed the basal diet (CTR) either with or without EO or XB individually or in combination (EOXB)]. Half of the piglets were orally challenged with E. coli O149:F4 (K88) on day 8 and 48 piglets (1 piglet/pen) were slaughtered on day 35. The E. coli challenge was found to decrease the average daily gain (ADG) and the gain to feed ( G : F ) ratio from days 7 to 14 ( P < 0.01) and to increase the fecal score from 1 to 5 days post-inoculation ( P < 0.01). EOXB supplementation decreased the fecal score compared to the challenged CTR animals during the first week post-challenge ( P = 0.02). The E. coli challenge increased the populations of fecal Clostridia , E. coli and coliforms on day 9 ( P < 0.01) and increased E. coli and coliforms counts on day 14 ( P < 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively). Dietary EO and EOXB reduced the fecal coliforms count compared to the CTR group on day 14 ( P = 0.02 and P < 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, EOXB supplementation reduced the coliforms count ( P < 0.01) and tended to decrease the E. coli count ( P = 0.051) compared to the CTR group in the cecum digesta. Dietary EOXB also decreased the crypt depth and increased the villus-to-crypt ratio in piglets compared to the CTR group ( P < 0.01). The E. coli challenge up-regulated the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1α, toll-like receptor (TLR)2 and TLR4 ( P < 0.01, P = 0.01, P = 0.03, P = 0.01, respectively), and EOXB supplementation down-regulated the expression of TNF-α ( P < 0.01) and IL-6 ( P = 0.046) compared to the EO group. The results suggest that the combination of EO and XB supplementation may have beneficial effects on the modulation of fecal consistency, microbial counts and ileum microscopic anatomy in weaned piglets following E. coli infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]