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

Table 8 Concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) and bacterial population in the colon contents of different groups

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
Bacterial population, relative abundance of CON
Lactobacillus	1.00^a	1.11^a	1.20^a	1.29^a	2.44^b	0.28	0.02	< 0.01
Bifidobacterium	1.00^ab	0.79^a	1.31^ab	1.55^c	2.84^d	0.30	0.01	< 0.01
Enterococcus faecium	1.00	2.10	1.68	1.60	1.51	0.20	0.66	0.54
Escherichia coli	1.00^abc	1.41^bc	1.42^c	0.68^ab	0.40^a	0.15	0.01	< 0.01
Detection rate of bacteria, %
Salmonella	62.50	75.00	87.50	75.00	50.00		0.19	0.65
Brachyspira hyodysenteriae	62.50^a	62.50^a	50.00^a	37.50^a	6.25^b		< 0.01	< 0.01
Concentration of VFA, mg/g (dry matter of colon content)
Acetate	1.58	1.21	1.31	2.16	2.33	0.11	0.06	< 0.01
Propionate	1.13	0.94	0.90	1.22	1.71	0.09	0.35	< 0.01
Butyrate	0.64^b	0.39^a	0.56^ab	0.61^bc	0.79^c	0.04	< 0.01	< 0.01
Valerate	0.23^a	0.19^a	0.25^a	0.30^ab	0.38^b	0.02	< 0.01	0.04
Total SCFA	3.58^a	2.73^a	3.03^a	4.29^ab	5.20^c	0.22	< 0.01	< 0.01
Isobutyrate	0.15	0.12	0.13	0.18	0.21	0.01	0.14	< 0.01
Isovalerate	0.24	0.26	0.27	0.32	0.38	0.02	0.06	< 0.01
Total BCFA	0.39	0.38	0.40	0.50	0.59	0.03	0.13	0.01
Total VFA	3.96^ab	3.11^a	3.43^a	4.79^bc	5.78^c	0.24	< 0.01	< 0.01
SCFA/VFA, %	90.17	87.75	88.43	89.43	89.75	0.42	0.34	0.04
BCFA/VFA, %	9.83	12.25	11.57	10.57	10.94	0.43	0.34	0.04

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, VFA volatile fatty acid. The abundances of Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus, Escherichia coli were calculated as a relative value normalized to the total bacteria of the same sample. The abundances of Salmonella and Brachyspira hyodysenteriae were calculated by the detection rate due to the failure of some samples to amplify the product; total SCFA, the sum of acetate, propionate, butyrate, and valerate. Total BCFA, isobutyrate and isovalerate; total VFA, the sum of acetate, propionate, butyrate, isobutyrate, valerate and isovalerate. Dry matter is 257, 268, 278, 240, and 245 g/kg in colon contents of piglets in CON, MCC, WB, MOLP, and SBP, respectively
^a−d 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

ISSN: 2049-1891