Weanling pigs, with immature immune system and physiological function, usually experience post-weaning diarrhea. This study determined the effects of dietary Clostridium butyricum supplementation on growth performance, diarrhea, and immunity of weaned pigs challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In Experiment (Exp.) 1, 144 weaned piglets were weaned at 21 d and randomly assigned to six groups, with six replicates per group and four pigs per replicate, receiving a control diet (CON) or diet supplemented with antibiotics (AB) or C. butyricum (CB) (0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4%, or 0.8%), respectively. All diets in Exp. 1 were a highly digestible basal diet, with 3,000 mg/kg zinc oxide supplied in the first 2 wk only. In Exp. 2, 180 piglets were weaned at 21 d and randomly assigned to five groups, with six replicates per group and six pigs per replicate, receiving CON, AB, or CB (0.2%, 0.4%, or 0.6%) diets. The digestibility of diets was lower than those in Exp. 1, and did not include zinc oxide. At 36 d of Exp. 2, 12 piglets were selected from each of the CON and 0.4% CB groups, six piglets were intraperitoneally injected with LPS (50 μg/kg body weight) and the other six piglets with normal saline; animals were killed at 4 h after injection to collect blood, intestine, and digesta samples for biochemical analysis. In Exp. 1, CB and AB diets had no effect on growth performance of piglets. In Exp. 2, 0.4% CB decreased feed-gain ratio (P < 0.1), diarrhea score (P < 0.05), and increased duodenal, jejunal, and ileal villus height and jejunal villus height/crypt depth (P < 0.05). The 0.4% CB decreased the plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α (P < 0.05) but increased ileal mucosa IL-10 and TLR2 mRNA expression (P < 0.05). Furthermore, 0.4% CB altered the microbial profile, with Bacillus and Ruminococcaceae UGG-003 at genus level and Lactobacillus casei and Parasutterella secunda at species level were higher than CON in colonic content (P < 0.05). Dietary C. butyricum supplementation had positive effects on growth of weaned piglets with less digestible diets. There was a tendency to reduce the feed-gain ratio, which could reduce feed costs in pig production. Moreover, C. butyricum decreased post-weaning diarrhea by improving the intestinal morphology, intestinal microflora profile, and immune function.

Background: Liquid feeding could enhance the growth performance of pigs and was extensively used in Europe. Although several reports showed the effects of liquid feeding on growth performance, there was little research on ammonia in farms. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of liquid feeding and dry feed feeding on growth performance and ammonia emissions of pigs. Methods: 1200 fattening pigs were randomly assigned to two groups, the dry feed group (DF) consisted of 20 pens with 28 pigs (36.70±1.31 kg). The liquid feeding group (LF) had 20 small pens, each with 32 pigs (35.65±1.51 kg). Each pen had half male and half female. The two groups used the same feeding management practices, environmental control conditions and the same density of 0.8 m2 / pig. In the experiment, the feed of Giastar Agro-Pastoral Co., Ltd. was used. At the end of the experiment, 8 pigs (4B 4@ ) were slaughtered to measure slaughter traits in each group. Result: Liquid feeding increased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) (P less than 0.05) and decreased the F/G of pigs between the body weights of 35 to 135 kg (P less than 0.05). Liquid feeding reduced the concentration of ammonia in the enclosure, it does not affect ammonia or even increase. There were no significant differences for slaughter characters of pigs in the DF and LF groups.