Dietary Supplementation of Blends of Organic Acids and Monoglycerides Alleviated Diarrhea and Systemic Inflammation of Weaned Pigs Experimentally Infected with Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli F18

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to investigate dietary supplementation of organic acids blend, monoglycerides blend, and combination of both on growth performance, diarrhea, and systemic inflammation of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) F18. Forty pigs (7.81 ± 0.84 kg BW) were individually housed in disease containment rooms and randomly allotted to one of four treatments with 10 replicate pigs per treatment. The four dietary treatments were: 1) Control: nursery basal diet, 2) Acids: basal diet supplemented with a blend of organic acids (formic acid, lactic acid, and sodium formate) at 0.3%, 3) Monoglycerides: basal diet supplemented with a blend of monoglycerides of fatty acids at 0.3%, and 4) Combination of acids and monoglycerides: basal diet added with the acids blend at 0.2% and the monoglycerides blend at 0.2%. The experiment lasted 28 d [7 d before and 21 d after the first inoculation (d 0)]. All pigs were orally inoculated with E. coli F18 1010 CFU/3 mL for 3 consecutive days from d 0. Growth performance was measured weekly. Diarrhea score (1, normal, to 5, watery diarrhea) was daily recorded for each pig. Fecal samples were collected on d 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, and 21 post-inoculation (PI) to confirm the presence of β-hemolytic coliforms in feces. Whole blood samples were collected on d 0, 5, and 14 PI to perform complete blood counting analysis. All data were analyzed by ANOVA using the PROC MIXED of SAS with a pig as the experimental unit. Frequency of diarrhea was calculated and analyzed by Chi-square test. Supplementation of acids blend, monoglycerides blend, or the combination of both had limited impacts on growth performance throughout the trial but significantly reduced (P < 0.05) frequency of diarrhea (25.5 to 29.8%) compared with control (39.3%). E. coli F18 infection increased (P < 0.05) the counts of total white blood cells, neutrophils, and lymphocytes on d 5 and 14 PI, compared with d 0. Supplementation of the combination of acids and monoglycerides reduced (P < 0.05) the counts of total white blood cells, lymphocytes, and the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes, and tended (P < 0.10) to reduce neutrophil count on d 5 PI, compared with control. Pigs fed with 0.3% monoglycerides blend had greater (P < 0.05) neutrophil count than pigs in the control group on d 14 PI. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of organic acids blend, monoglycerides blend, and the combination of both can alleviate diarrhea or systemic inflammation caused by E. coli F18 infection.