Effect of providing citrus pulp-integrated diet on fecal microbiota and serum and fecal metabolome shifts in crossbred pigs.

Fecha de publicación: 16/10/2023 Fecha Ahead of Print: 16/10/2023

Autores de IIS La Fe

Marta Isabel Roca Marugán

Autor

Participantes ajenos a IIS La Fe

Belloumi, Dhekra
Calvet, Salvador
Ferrer, Pablo
Jimenez-Belenguer, Ana
Cambra-Lopez, Maria
Garcia-Rebollar, Paloma
Climent, Eric
Martinez-Blanch, Juan
Tortajada, Marta
Chenoll, Empar
Bermejo, Almudena
Cerisuelo, Alba

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the impact of dehydrated citrus pulp (DCP) on growth performance, fecal characteristics, fecal bacterial composition (based on 16S rRNA analysis), and fecal and serum metabolomic profiles in crossbred pigs. 80 finishing pigs Duroc*(Landrace*Large White) were fed either a control diet (C) or a diet with 240g/kg DCP (T) for six weeks. Including DCP in diets tended to decrease feed intake, increased (p<0.05) the concentrations of acetic and heptanoic acids and decreased (p<0.05) fecal butyric and branched-chain fatty acid concentrations in feces. Animals fed DCP exhibited a lower abundance of the genera Clostridium and Romboutsia, while Lachnospira significantly increased. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis plotted a clear separation of fecal and serum metabolites between groups. The main discriminant fecal metabolites were associated with bacterial protein fermentation and were downregulated in T-fed pigs. In serum, DCP supplementation upregulated metabolites related to protein and fatty acids metabolism. In conclusion, the addition of DCP as an environmentally friendly source of nutrients in pig diets, resulted in modifications of fecal bacterial composition, fermentation patterns, and overall pig metabolism, suggesting improvements in protein metabolism and gut health.