VetSRev
Database of veterinary systematic reviews
Database of veterinary systematic reviews
Journal of Animal Science (2013) 91: 3188–3199
Cereal beta-glucan may be detrimental in pig production because of negative effects on nutrient digestibility, but they may act as functional ingredients by stimulating the intestinal microbiota. This study primarily aimed to investigate relations between dietary beta-glucan and nutrient digestibility, intestinal fermentation, and manure NH3 emission in weaned, growing, and finishing pigs. Effects of dietary xylose, NDF, and CP, and pig’s BW on animal responses were also evaluated. A meta-analytical approach, accounting for inter- and intra-experiment variations, was used to compute prediction models. Data from 26 studies including 107 different dietary treatments with appropriate dietary and physiological measurements were used to parameterize these models. Dietary beta-glucan concentration ranged from 0 to 6.7%. Increasing dietary beta-glucan reduced apparent ileal (AID) and total tract digestibility (ATTD) of CP and energy (R2 = 0.12 to 0.29; P \textless 0.05), whereas the ATTD of DM was reduced by 10% up to a threshold beta-glucan level of 3.5%, above which the response became asymptotic (R2 = 0.34; P \textless 0.01). Increasing dietary NDF content decreased ATTD of DM and energy, and increasing xylose concentration reduced ATTD of energy and CP (R2 = 0.24 to 0.85; P \textless 0.05). Broken-line model indicated that cecal total VFA and butyrate concentrations increased up to a threshold of 2.5 and 1.4% beta-glucan in the diet, respectively, above which these responses became asymptotic (R2 = 0.77 to 0.96; P \textless 0.05). Ileal butyrate was negatively and colonic iso-butyrate was positively linked to increasing beta-glucan concentration (R2 = 0.17 to 0.41; P \textless 0.05). Greater beta-glucan concentration were negatively related (R2 = 0.86; P \textless 0.01) to NH3 emission, indicating a reduction in NH3 emission by half with 6% beta-glucan. Backward elimination analysis indicated that greater BW of pigs counteracted (P \textless 0.05) the negative effect of beta-glucan on AID of CP and energy and ATTD of DM and CP. Pig’s BW also enhanced effects of beta-glucan on cecal total VFA, colonic iso-butyrate, ileal butyrate, and NH3 emission (P \textless 0.05). Dietary CP level potentiated (P \textless 0.01) the beta-glucan effects on cecal total VFA, cecal butyrate, and colonic iso-butyrate. In conclusion, this study indicates that beta-glucan can stimulate cecal butyrate and ameliorate manure NH3 emission, thereby, decreasing nutrient digestibility. Because greater BW ameliorates beta-glucan effects, finishing diets may be formulated to contain more beta-glucan than weaner diets.
Metzler-Zebeli, B. U., & Zebeli, Q. (2013). Cereal beta-glucan alters nutrient digestibility and microbial activity in the intestinal tract of pigs, and lower manure ammonia emission: A meta-analysis. Journal of Animal Science, 91(7), 3188–3199. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2012-5547 Animals, Swine, Diet/veterinary, Pigs, Ammonia/metabolism, Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Dietary Proteins, Dietary Proteins/administration & dosage, Digestion, Animal Feed/analysis, Sus scrofa/growth & development, Fermentation, Dietary Proteins/metabolism, Ammonia, beta-Glucans, beta-Glucans/administration & dosage, beta-Glucans/metabolism, Cereals/chemistry, Intestines/metabolism, Manure, Manure/analysis, Polysaccharides, Polysaccharides/administration & dosage, Polysaccharides/metabolism, Sus scrofa/physiology