Effect of dietary wheat bran inclusion on nutrient and energy digestibility and microbial metabolites in weaned pigs

This study was conducted to assess effect of including 40 g/kg of wheat bran (WB) in weaner diet on nutrient and energy digestibility and on microbial metabolites. Six weaned piglets (7.3 ± 0.1 kg of initial body weight) were surgically fitted with a T-cannula at the distal ileum. Pigs were fed 1 of 2 test diets consisting of: 1) control (a barley-wheat-corn-soybean meal-based diet), and 2) WB diet (40 g/kg of coarsely milled WB; 1091 µm), which were assigned according to a 2 × 2 Latin square design repeated 3 times. At the end of the second period, all pigs were fed a corn starch-based diet containing 50 g casein/kg to estimate basal endogenous amino acids (AA) losses. Piglets fed the WB diet had lower coefficient of apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and gross energy than those fed the control diet (P < 0.05). Also, inclusion of WB tended to reduce coefficient of apparent ileal digestibility of OM and DM (P ≤ 0.10). Furthermore, the WB diet showed less digestible energy compared to the control diet (P < 0.05). There were no differences or trends in the coefficient of standardized ileal digestibility (CSID) of CP and AA between the 2 diets. Feeding the WB diet increased (P < 0.05) fecal acetate, butyrate, and total volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations in feces and tended to increase (P ≤ 0.10) acetate, propionate, valerate, and total VFA in intestinal digesta compared with the control diet. In conclusion, results indicated that dietary inclusion of WB decreased nutrients and energy digestibility, but increased VFA production in the ileal digesta and feces.