Effects of dietary supplementation of compound probiotics on growth performance, immune function, and intestinal flora of weaned piglets.

The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of dietary microencapsulated compound probiotics on the growth performance, immune function, and intestinal flora of weaned piglets. Twenty-four healthy weaned piglets (Landrace x Rongchang) with similar weight were randomly divided into a control group and experimental group, with three replicates in each group and four pigs in each replicate. The control group was fed with corn-soybean meal basal diet, while the experimental group was fed with 0.1% microencapsulated compound probiotics, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus subtilis. The trial period was 42 days. The results showed that compared with the control group, the average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed-to-weight ratio of piglets in the experimental group had no significant difference, but the serum growth hormone content tended to increase. Compared with the control group, the concentrations of IgA, IgG, and IgM in the experimental group had no significant difference, but the concentrations of interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 decreased significantly (P<0.05). The relative abundance of Muribaculaceae, ruminal bacteria, Christenium and other bacteria in the experimental group increased significantly. The study indicates that adding microencapsulated compound probiotics in diet increased the content of growth hormone in piglets, reduced the content of inflammatory molecules, increased the richness and diversity of intestinal microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]