Dietary fibers with low hydration properties exacerbate diarrhea and impair intestinal health and nutrient digestibility in weaned piglets

Table 5 Effects of dietary fibers with different hydration properties on the diarrhea rate and index of weaned piglets

Item	CON	Low hydration properties		Medium hydration properties		SEM	P-value
Item	CON	MCC	WB	MOLP	SBP	SEM	P-diet	P-HP
No. of piglets	7	7	7	7	8
Diarrhea rate, %
D 1 to 7	8.16^b	14.29^bc	12.25^bc	18.37^c	1.79^a	1.20	< 0.01	0.15
D 1 to 14	5.10^ab	14.29^b	14.29^b	9.18^ab	3.57^a	0.82	< 0.01	0.10
D 1 to 21	4.08^a	10.88^b	10.88^b	6.10^a	4.17^a	0.59	< 0.01	0.03
D 1 to 28	4.59^a	8.16^b	8.16^b	4.59^a	3.57^a	0.66	< 0.01	0.04
Diarrhea index
D 1 to 7	0.15	0.27	0.28	0.35	0.11	0.05	0.46	0.39
D 1 to 14	0.13	0.31	0.30	0.21	0.13	0.05	0.90	0.06
D 1 to 21	0.12	0.26	0.26	0.16	0.12	0.04	0.95	0.04
D 1 to 28	0.13	0.21	0.19	0.14	0.12	0.03	0.85	0.30

CON control diet group, MCC 5% microcrystalline cellulose diet group; WB, 5% wheat bran diet group, MOLP 5% Moringa oleifera leaf powder diet group, SBP 5% sugar beet pulp diet group
^a−c Different lowercase letters represent significant difference at P < 0.05, and P-diet represents the P values between the five groups. P-HP stands for P value between low hydration property groups and medium hydration property groups. Diarrhea rate was calculated as a percentage of the number of diarrheal piglets during the period divided by the total number of piglets. Diarrhea index = sum of diarrhea scores of each group of piglets during the test period/(number of test days × number of piglets per group)

ISSN: 2049-1891