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Phytobiotics are bioactive compounds with antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties that may help reduce post-weaning diarrhea in pigs.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of using ground herb-based phytobiotics and essential oil-based phytobiotics in pig diets on intestinal health and growth performance of nursery pigs challenged with F18+Escherichia coli.
Methods: 40 nursery pigs (6.4 ± 0.1 kg) at 21d of age were individually housed and assigned to 4 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design, with body weight and sex as blocking factors. Basal diets were fed to pigs for 28 d in 3 phases. Treatments were negative control: basal diet, non-challenged; positive control: basal diet, challenged with F18+E. coli; herb-based: positive control + 1% ground herb-based phytobiotics; essential oil-based: positive control + 1% essential oil-based phytobiotics. The growth performance was recorded for each phase and fecal score was measured daily. On day 7 postweaning, the challenged groups were orally inoculated with F18+E. coli (2.0 × 1010 CFU), the negative control treatment received a sterile saline solution. On day 28, pigs were euthanized to collect jejunal samples to evaluate intestinal health and relative abundance of jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota.
Results: The positive control increased the relative abundance of Prevotellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae when compared to the negative control. The herb-based treatment reduced the relative abundance of Veillonellaceae, Prevotellaceae, and Lachnospiraceae when compared to the positive control. The essential oil-based treatment tended to reduce the relative abundance of Streptococcaceae and Corynebacteriaceae when compared to the positive control. The positive control increased occludin and tended to increase toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) when compared to the negative control. The positive control decreased average daily gain and average daily feed intake when compared to the negative control in days 7 to 28. The positive control increased the fecal score compared to the herb-based and essential oil-based treatments days 7 to 11. The herb-based and essential oil-based treatments decreased the fecal score compared to the positive control during days 7 to 11 and days 7 to 18.
Conclusion: F18+E. coli challenge disrupted the jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota, increased TLR4 expression and fecal score, and consequently reduced growth performance. Both herb-based and essential oil-based phytobiotics supported intestinal morphology during the challenge to F18+E. coli by supporting enterocyte maturation. The herb-based and essential oil-based treatments exhibited antimicrobial-like effects by altering the jejunal mucosa-associated microbiota and reduced fecal score during the first 2 weeks post-challenge. The herb-based treatment showed potential antioxidant effects.
Garavito-Duarte Y, Duarte ME, & Kim SW. (2025). Efficacy of ground herb-based and essential oil-based phytobiotics on the intestinal health and performance of nursery pigs challenged with F18+ Escherichia coli. Journal of Animal Science. 2025; skaf018. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf018
