Dietary supplementation with chitooligosaccharides alters gut microbiota and modifies intestinal luminal metabolites in weaned Huanjiang mini-piglets

In this study, we tested the effects of dietary supplementation with chitooligosaccharides (COS) on the gut microbiota and its metabolites using the Huanjiang mini-piglet model. Ten weaned mini-piglets were randomly assigned to 2 groups, receiving no COS or dietary supplementation with 0.5 g/kg of COS in a basal diet. After a 14-day trial period, the luminal contents of ileum and colon were collected to analyze short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and ammonia, as well as gut microbiota populations. Our results show that dietary supplementation with COS modifies the composition of ileal and colonic microbiota, and increased the amounts of some presumably beneficial intestinal bacteria and concentrations of SCFAs in the intestinal luminal content, while suppressed the growth of potential bacterial pathogens and the amount of several protein-derived catabolites, when compared with the control group. These findings suggest that the COS presents prebiotic activities and modifies the intestinal luminal environment in a presumably beneficial way in weaning Huanjiang mini-piglets.