Effects of adding a prebiotic product based of beta-glucans, glucomannans, and mannan-oligosaccharides on performance and health of weanling pigs

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to examine the effects of replacement of an antibiotic (ANT, chlorohydroxyquinoline) in the diet of weaned piglets with a prebiotic composed of β-glucans, glucomannans, and mannan-oligosaccharides on growth performance, diarrhea occurrence (DO), hematological parameters, pH of digestive content, organ weights, intestinal epithelium morphology, and intestinal bacterial counts. A total of 120 piglets (weaned at 21 d old; 6.32±0.10 kg BW) were allocated in a randomized block design, with six pens replicates and four piglets per pen as experimental unit. Treatments consisted of diets with 0, 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 mg kg−1 of prebiotic and a basal diet with 120 mg kg−1 ANT. No differences of treatments were observed on performance, DO, pH of digestive content, organ weights, and hematological parameters. Duodenal villus density (VD) increased linearly with the prebiotic levels. In the jejunum, the prebiotic level of 2,000 mg kg−1 resulted in a greater VD compared with the ANT. Enterobacteriaceae count in the ileum and total and lactic acid bacteria counts in the cecum responded quadratically to increasing prebiotic levels. The equations estimated the prebiotic levels of 2,125, 1,167, and 1,500 mg kg−1 to provide reduced counts of the respective bacteria (ileal enterobacteria: 6.47 log CFU g−1; total cecal bacteria: 6.70 log CFU g−1; and cecal lactic acid: 7.29 log CFU g−1). Salmonella spp. was not detected, whereas Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus spp. gene copies were unaffected by the treatments. Prebiotic levels or ANT do not enhance performance or health of weanling pigs, but the effects observed on VD and microbiota profile might be an indication of the potential benefits of these products in commercial farming conditions.