Impact of feeding fermentable proteins and carbohydrates on growth performance, gut health and gastrointestinal function of newly weaned pigs

Feeding fermentable carbohydrates (FC) to weanling pigs may reduce the negative impact of proteolytic fermentation on gastrointestinal health and function. A total of 144 newly weaned pigs [6.23 kg body weight (BW); six pens per treatment; six pigs per pen) were used to determine the interactive effects of feeding additional fermentable protein (FP) and FC on growth performance, gastrointestinal function and intestinal health. Dietary treatments, based on a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, were: (1) basal diet (control); (2) control + 10% poultry meal (PM) as FP source; (3) control + 5% beet pulp (BP) as FC source; and (4) control + 10% PM and 5% BP. Diets were formulated to be similar in digestible energy (DE) and digestible amino acid contents. In general, no interactive effects of FC and FP were observed (P > 0.10). During the 3-wk post-weaning period, feeding FP reduced average daily gain (ADG) (242 vs. 269 g d-1; P 0.10). On days 14 and 28 post-weaning, Clostridia spp. counts in colon contents, counts of white cells and segmented neutrophils in blood were lowered (P 0.10) on colon histology, pH, fecal consistency score and organ weights. Results suggest that FP and FC have independent effects on newly weaned pigs, while effects appear partly related to changes in gut microbiota