Tannic acid extracted from gallnut prevents post-weaning diarrhea and improves intestinal health of weaned piglets

Yanyan Song; Yong Luo; Bing Yu; Jun He; Ping Zheng; Xiangbing Mao; Zhiqing Huang; Junqiu Luo; Yuheng Luo; Hui Yan; Quyuan Wang; Huifen Wang; Daiwen Chen; Jie Yu

doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2021.04.005

Tannic acid extracted from gallnut prevents post-weaning diarrhea and improves intestinal health of weaned piglets

Anim Nutr. 2021 Dec;7(4):1078-1086. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2021.04.005. Epub 2021 Sep 14.

Authors

Yanyan Song¹, Yong Luo², Bing Yu¹, Jun He¹, Ping Zheng¹, Xiangbing Mao¹, Zhiqing Huang¹, Junqiu Luo¹, Yuheng Luo¹, Hui Yan¹, Quyuan Wang¹, Huifen Wang¹, Daiwen Chen¹, Jie Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ Animal Nutrition Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition, Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 611130, China.
² Departments of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, 610031, China.

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of tannic acid (TA) on growth performance, diarrhea rate, nutrient digestibility and intestinal health in weaned piglets. A total of 180 weaned piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 24 d of age, initial average BW = 7.77 ± 0.17 kg) were allotted to 5 groups (6 pigs/pen and 6 replicates/group) in a randomized complete block design according to their gender and body weight. Piglets were fed a basal diet, or the basal diet supplemented with 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2% or 0.4% TA for 28 d. The supplementary levels of TA in the diets were obtained by adding tannalbin containing 51% TA and 40.17% protein. The results showed that, compared with the CON group, dietary TA did not affect ADFI, ADG or F:G, and linearly reduced (P < 0.01) the diarrhea rate and diarrhea index of piglets. There were no significant effects on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) in the 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.2% TA groups, while negative effects (P < 0.05) on apparent digestibility of crude protein and gross energy were observed in the 0.4% TA group. In addition, the nutrient digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and gross energy linearly decreased (P < 0.01) with the increase of TA dosage. Supplementation of TA increased (P < 0.05) the villus height of the duodenum and jejunum, as well as increased (P < 0.05) catalase (CAT) activity in serum. Dietary TA improved (P < 0.05) the Bacillus counts in cecal digesta. Further, TA significantly improved (P < 0.05) Bacillus counts and reduced (P < 0.05) the Escherichia coli counts in colonic digesta. The concentration of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and isovaleric acid in cecal digesta were significantly increased (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression level of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), zonula occludens-2 (ZO-2), and claudin-2 (CLDN-2) in the jejunum were greater (P < 0.05) in TA supplemented groups. The study showed that, compared to the control, TA prevented post-weaning diarrhea and improved intestinal health of weaned piglets, and the appropriate level of TA supplementation would be from 0.1% to 0.2%.

Keywords: Intestinal health; Post-weaning diarrhea; Tannic acid; Weaned piglet.