Effect of Supplementing Seaweed Extracts to Pigs until d35 Post-Weaning on Performance and Aspects of Intestinal Health

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of feeding laminarin (LAM) and fucoidan (FUC) enriched seaweed extracts up to d35 post-weaning on measures of animal performance, intestinal microbial and transcriptome profiles. 75 pigs were assigned to one of three groups: (1) basal diet; (2) basal diet + 250 ppm fucoidan; (3) basal diet + 300 ppm laminarin with 7 replicates per treatment group. Measures of performance were collected weekly and animals sacrificed on d35 post-weaning for the sampling of gastrointestinal tissue and digesta. Animal performance was similar between the basal group and the groups supplemented with FUC and LAM (P > 0.05). Pigs fed the basal diet had higher alpha diversity compared to both the LAM and FUC supplemented pigs (P < 0.05). Supplementation with LAM and FUC increased the production of butyric acid compared to basal fed pigs (P < 0.05). At genus level pigs fed the LAM supplemented diet had the greatest abundance of Faecalbacterium, Roseburia and the lowest Campylobacter of the three experimental treatments (P < 0.05). While neither extract had beneficial effects on animal performance, LAM supplementation had a positive influence on intestinal health through alterations in the gastrointestinal microbiome and increased butyrate production.