Dietary Angelica sinensis Enhances Sow Lactation and Piglet Development Through Gut Microbiota and Metabolism

Abstract

Piglets weaned per sow per year (PSY) is a crucial metric for assessing the reproductive performances of sows and directly affects both sow productivity and the economic profitability of pig farms [...].

Keywords: Angelica sinensis; gut health; lactation performance; metabolites; piglet development.

Figure 1

Effects of AS on sow milk yields and immunoglobulin contents: (A) experimental design; (B) analysis of feed intake in sows; analysis of (C) TNF-α, (D) IL-6, and (E) total milk yield in sows; analysis of (F) PRL, (G) GH, and (H) IGF-1 levels in sow sera; analysis of (I) IgA, (J) IgG, and (K) IgM levels in sow milk. TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; IL-6: Interleukin-6; PRL: Prolactin; GH: Growth Hormone; IGF-1: Insulin-like growth factor 1; IgA: Immunoglobulin A; IgG: Immunoglobulin G; IgM: Immunoglobulin M. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.

Figure 2

Metabolic analysis of AS and sera from sows. Top 10 metabolite TICs from AS samples in (A) positive and (B) negative ion modes. Analysis of AS metabolites, retention time (x-axis) and ion current intensity (y-axis) (C) Results of metabolite Venn diagram analysis; (D) score scatter plot of PCA model; (E) volcano plot of differential metabolites, where the x-axis represents fold changes, the y-axis represents p-values, and the sizes of the dots reflect VIP values. Red indicates significant upregulation, blue indicates significant downregulation, and gray represents non-significant differences; the x-axis represents experimental groups, the y-axis displays differential metabolites, and the color blocks indicate the relative expression levels of the metabolites, with red indicating high expression and blue indicating low expression. (F) Heatmaps of upregulated and downregulated metabolites. (G) Enrichment results of metabolite KEGG pathways, where the Rich Factor for each pathway is displayed on the x-axis and the KEGG metabolic pathway names are displayed on the y-axis. The sizes of the dots correspond to the numbers of differentially enriched metabolites within each pathway. The color gradient indicates the significance of the p-value, with a shift towards red hues signifying a higher enrichment significance level.

Figure 3

Microbial community analysis of sow feces: (A) analysis of OTU compositions in CON and 0.5% ASE groups; evaluation of alpha diversity of gut microbiota in sows using (B) Simpson and (C) Chao1 indices; (D) principal component analysis of gut microbiota; compositions of microbial abundances at the (E) phylum and (F) genus levels; (G) LEfSe analysis of gut microbiota, where the green LDA scores represent bacteria enriched in the CON group and the red LDA scores signify bacteria enriched in the 0.5% ASE group; (H) prediction of microbial functions, where red indicates a positive correlation and blue indicates a negative correlation.

Figure 4

Maternal dietary AS supplementation influences piglet growth and immune response. Changes in the levels of serum (A) T3, (B) T4, (C) GH, (D) IgG, (E) IgA, and (F) IgM in piglets. T3: Triiodothyronine; T4: Thyroxine; GH: Growth Hormone; IgA: Immunoglobulin A; IgG: Immunoglobulin G; IgM: Immunoglobulin M. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.

Figure 5

AS consumption by lactating sows enhances the intestinal development of piglets. (A) Duodenum, (B) jejunum, and (C) ileum tissue sections, along with villus length, crypt depth, and villus length–crypt depth statistical data. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.

Figure 6

Consuming AS during lactation enhances the intestinal barriers of piglets. (A) Levels of SIgA in the jejuna of piglets; concentrations of (B) D-LA and (C) DAO in piglet sera; expression of (D) Occludin, (E) Claudin-1, and (F) ZO-1 mRNA in the jejuna of piglets. SIgA: Secretory Immunoglobulin A; D-LA: D-Lactate; DAO: Diamine Oxidase; ZO-1: Zonula Occludens Protein 1. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.