China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2020, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (12): 3897-3908.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2020.12.012

• Animal Nutrition and Feed Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Carvacrol and Thymol on Colonic Microorganisms in Weaned Piglets

LIU Zhonghao1,2, ZHENG Zi1, CHEN Liang3, LI Ning1, LI Qianjun1, MU Shuqin1, YAN Jun1   

  1. 1. Tianjin Technology Engineering Center of Livestock and Poultry Healthy Husbandry, Tianjin Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary, Tianjin 300381, China;
    2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Breeding and Healthy Husbandry, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin 300384, China;
    3. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2020-06-30 Online:2020-12-20 Published:2020-12-18

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of carvacrol and thymol on the relative abundance of colonic microorganisms in weaned piglets and their metabolic pathways.A total of sixty four 28-day-old (8.5 kg±1.0 kg) weaned piglets were divided into 4 groups with 16 replicate of 1 piglet:Group A (control group,basal diet),group B (basal diet+20 g/T carvacrol),group C (basal diet+20 g/T thymol),and group D (basal diet+20 g/T carvacrol-thymol blend (mass ratio 2:1)).The experiment lasted 30 d.The sequencing was taken based on the Illumina HiSeq sequencing platform,and using paired-end sequencing (Paired-End) method.Perform species annotation and abundance were analysized by clustering OTUs,and alpha diversity analysis、beta diversity analysis、significant species difference analysis and functional gene prediction analysis were further conducted.The results showed as follow:①The colonic microorganisms biodiversity of the experimental groups were significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.05).②The relative abundance of Firmicutes in the colon of group D was extremely significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.01),significantly higher than groups B and C (P<0.05),the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes was significantly higher than that of control group and group C (P<0.05),and the relative abundance of Epsilonbacteraeota,Spirochaetes and Proteobacteria were extremely significantly lower than that of control group (P<0.01).The relative abundance of Campylobacter in the colon of group D was extremely significantly lower than that of control group (P<0.01),that of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group in group D was significantly higher than that of group B (P<0.05),that of Roseburia in group D was extremely significantly higher than that of group A (P<0.01),that of Helicobacter was extremely significantly lower than that of group A (P<0.01).③The lipid metabolism level of colonic microorganisms in group D was extremely significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.01),and colonic microbial carbohydrate metabolites,biosynthetic of other secondary metabolites and other amino acid metabolism level were significantly higher than that of control group (P<0.05),and energy metabolism level of colonic microorganisms was extremely significantly lower than that of control group (P<0.01).In conclusion,under the condition of this experiment,dietary supplementation with 20 g/t carvacrol-thymol improved the microbial community structure of colonic microorganisms in weaned piglets.The relative abundance of colonic beneficial bacteria was increased,the relative abundance of colonic harmful bacteria was decreased,and positively affected the metabolic function of colonic microorganisms.

Key words: carvacrol; thymol; weaned piglets; colonic microflora; microbial metabolic function

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