Alfalfa-containing diets alter luminal microbiota structure and short chain fatty acid sensing in the caecal mucosa of pigs

Table 1 Ingredients and nutrient composition of the experimental diets (as-fed basis)

Item	Level of alfalfa meal, %
Item	0	5	10	15
Ingredient, %
Corn	71.10	64.97	58.00	52.54
Soybean meal	25.00	24.60	25.00	24.00
Alfalfa meal^a	0.00	5.00	10.00	15.00
Soybean oil	0.52	2.20	3.99	5.58
Limestone	1.16	1.00	0.88	0.72
Dicalcium phosphate	0.70	0.70	0.65	0.65
Sodium chloride	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.30
L-Lysine	0.24	0.24	0.21	0.22
L-Threonine	0.08	0.08	0.06	0.07
L-Tryptophan	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.02
DL-Methionine	0.07	0.08	0.08	0.09
Vitamin-mineral premix^b	0.81	0.81	0.81	0.81
Energy and Nutrient composition^c
DM, %	88.25	88.71	89.24	89.75
CP, %	16.93	17.54	17.89	17.61
NDF, %	12.92	14.71	16.10	18.21
ADF, %	5.88	6.21	7.45	8.44
Lys, %	1.12	1.16	1.11	1.17
Met + Cys, %	0.60	0.64	0.65	0.71
Try, %	0.18	0.20	0.19	0.18
Thr, %	0.76	0.80	0.77	0.80
NE, kcal/kg	2475	2475	2475	2475
Soluble dietary fiber, %	1.82	1.51	2.04	2.18
Insoluble dietary fiber, %	12.66	13.02	14.82	16.80
Total dietary fiber, %	14.48	14.52	16.86	18.98

^aAlfalfa meal: 91.3% DM, 16.5% CP, 50.6% NDF, 34.3% ADF, 12.5% crude ash
^bThis vitamin-mineral premix supplied per kg diet as follows: vitamin A as retinyl acetate, 4000 IU; vitamin D₃ as cholecalciferol, 1000 IU, vitamin E as DL-alpha tocopheryl acetate, 10 IU; vitamin K₃ as menadione nicotinamide bisulfite, 1.25 mg; thiamine as thiamine mononitrate, 0.5 mg; riboflavin, 2.1 mg; pyridoxine as pyridoxine hydrocloride, 1 mg; vitamin B₁₂, 0.007 mg; D-pantothenic acid as D-calcium pantothenate, 6 mg; niacin as nicotinamide and nicotinic acid, 12 mg; folic acid, 0.25 mg; biotin, 0.02 mg; Cu, 10 mg as copper sulfate; Fe, 75 mg as iron sulfate; I, 0.025 mg as potassium iodate; Mn, 10 mg as manganese sulfate; Se, 0.02 mg as sodium selenite; Zn, 45 mg as zinc oxide; choline chloride (50%), 1.2 g; sweeteners, 0.1 g; feed flavor, 0.1 g; phytase, 0.1 g
^cThe NE is calculated, whereas all other values are analyzed

ISSN: 2049-1891