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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1529881
Effects of Dioscorea oppositifolia L. on growth performance, biochemical indicators, immunity, and intestinal health of weaned piglets
Provisionally accepted
Xiangyi Pan 1
Zheng-Ying Qiu 1
Chen Liu 1 Chuan Wang 2 Xiaowu Wang 3 Li-Na Huang 1 Si-Fan Li 1 Xiong-Wei Shi 1 Shao-Guang Ge 1
Ruihua Xin 1*- 1 Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
- 2 Sichuan SDIC Qiangshan Technology Group Co., Ltd. Mianyang,, Sichuan, China
- 3 Sichuan SDIC Qiangshan Technology Group Co., Ltd. Mianyang, sichuan, China
Weaning stress syndrome in piglets seriously endangers the healthy development of the breeding industry. Dioscorea oppositifolia L. (Chinese yam, YAM) has activities such as boosting immunity and regulating gastrointestinal function. In order to explore the potential efficacy of YAM on weaned piglets, this study aimed to investigate the effects of growth performance, immune function, intestinal health and intestinal flora composition of weaned piglets. Forty-eight 28-day-old weaned piglets were randomly divided into a control group, YAML group and YAMH group, with 0%, 1% and 2% YAM added to the basal diet, respectively. During the experiment, the piglets' feed intake was recorded, and blood and fecal samples were collected. After the feeding period, intestinal tissue samples and colon content samples were collected for testing. The results showed that adding YAM to the diet can lower the incidence of diarrhea in weaned piglets, improve growth performance and nutrient digestibility, and reduce serum enzyme activity alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C); in addition, YAM can also increase serum immunoglobulins (Ig) and antibody titers, regulate the level of inflammatory factors, and promote the expression of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) protein in the intestine.Furthermore, supplementation with YAM can increase the villus height (VH), the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (V/C), and the expression of Tight junctions (TJs), and also has a positive regulatory effect on the intestinal flora. In summary, YAM alleviates weaning stress syndrome in piglets by promoting growth performance, improving immune function and disease resistance, improving intestinal morphology and mucosal immunity, and regulating the intestinal microbial composition of piglets. This provides a theoretical basis for the development and application of YAM as a new plant-derived feed additive.
Keywords: Dioscorea oppositifolia L., Weaned piglets, growth performance, Immune performance, Intestinal health, gut microbiome
Received: 18 Nov 2024; Accepted: 25 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pan, Qiu, Liu, Wang, Wang, Huang, Li, Shi, Ge and Xin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ruihua Xin, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730050, Gansu Province, China
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