| Novel prebiotics and probiotics were evaluated for use in infant and weaning pig nutrition. Risk of childhood diseases increases with imbalanced intestinal microflora during early development due to environmental factors. Prebiotics and probiotics may restore intestinal microbial balance via SCFA production, competitively excluding pathogenic bacteria and tolergenic priming of the intestinal immune system. Piglets are an appropriate neonatal model for prebiotic and probiotic supplementation in infant formula due to their anatomical and functional similarities with human infants.;Stabilized rice bran (SRB) is classified as a “functional food” because of its prebiotic characteristics. Two hundred pigs were weaned at ∼21 days of age, blocked by weight, and allotted to diets containing 0 or 10% SRB and (−) or (+) Antibiotic (ANT) according to a 2 x 2 factorial design. Antibiotic supplementation improved average daily gain by 6.3% from day 14 to 28 (P < 0.05), but other production parameters were affected by ANT. SRB increased feed efficiency beyond that pigs fed growth promoting antibiotics. Cumulatively, pigs fed the ANT-free + 10% SRB diet improved gain:feed by an average of 14% compared to all other treatments (P < 0.05). The improvement in production was accompanied by a trend for increased colonic bifidobacteria (P = 0.098), but the fermentative activity of the bacteria was not detectably different when SRB was fed. Trends for increased bifidobacteria and improved feed efficiency indicate SRB has prebiotic properties. SRB shows promise as a replacement of corn in weaning diets, specifically diets that lack antibiotic growth promoters.;Oligosaccharides, the third largest component in human milk, are virtually absent from cow’s milk and most infant formula. Prebiotic carbohydrates like polydextrose (PDX) have been proposed as surrogates for human milk oligosaccharides. To substantiate the safety and efficacy of the PDX, one-day old pigs were fed a cow’s milk-based formula supplemented with PDX (1.7, 4.3, 8.5 or 17 g/L) for 18 days (n = 13/dose) and compared to control unsupplemented formula and reference groups (day 0 pigs, and sow-reared pigs). Growth rate, formula intake, stool consistency, behavior score, blood chemistry and hematology, relative organ weights (% of body weight), tissue morphology (i.e. liver, kidney and pancreas) and pancreas biochemistry did not differ among formula-fed pigs (P > 0.1). Ileal Lactobacillus CFU, but not Bifidobacteria, increased linearly with increasing PDX (P = 0.02). Lactic acid increased linearly by five-fold with increasing PDX (P = 0.001). Accordingly, digesta pH decreased linearly (P < 0.05) as PDX increased. Polydextrose mimicked other prebiotic carbohydrates and did not produce any adverse affects when evaluated in a neonatal pig model.;Studies were conducted to determine the impact of two novel probiotic strains, B. breve AH1205 (BB) and B. longum AH1206 (BL) at two doses, on the health, growth and development of neonatal pigs as a surrogate for human infants. One day old pigs were fed a milk-based formula containing BB or BL at both a low (109 CFU/day) or high (1011 CFU/day) dose for 18 days (n=10/treatment). Additional groups included 20 newborn pigs sampled at baseline (NB) and 20 sow-reared (SR), reference pigs. Bacterial translocation was not affected by probiotic treatment (P > 0.1). Feeding high levels of BB had a minor but significant impact on feed intake, increasing 5% over controls (P < 0.05). Strain BL had no measurable effect on fecal and cecal total bifidobacteria populations; whereas, B. longum increased in response to increasing BL supplementation. Dietary supplementation with novel probiotic strains BB and BL is safe for human infants based on a lack of animal growth, development and immune-related effects on an appropriate surrogate animal model, neonatal pigs. |
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