Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Mushroom or Vitamin D-Enriched Mushroom Powders on Gastrointestinal Health Parameters in the Weaned Pig.

The objective of this study was to compare the molecular, physiological and microbial effects of mushroom powder (MP), vitamin D enriched mushroom powder (MPD) and zinc oxide (ZnO) in pigs post-weaning. Pigs (four pigs/pen; 12 pens/treatment) were assigned to: (1) basal diet (control), (2) basal diet + ZnO, (3) basal diet + MP (2 g/kg feed) and (4) basal diet + MPD (2 g/kg feed). Zinc oxide supplementation improved the feed intake ( < 0.001); increased the caecal abundance of ( < 0.05); increased the villus height ( < 0.05) in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum; increased the expression of chemokine interleukin 8 (; < 0.05); and decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine gene interleukin 6 (; < 0.05), tumour necrosis factor (; < 0.05), nutrient transporters peptide transporter 1 (; < 0.05) and fatty acid binding protein 2 (; ( < 0.05) in the duodenum. Whereas dietary supplementation with MPD improved the gastrointestinal morphology ( < 0.05); increased the total volatile fatty acid concentrations ( < 0.05); increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine gene interleukin 10 (; < 0.05) and nutrient transporters ( < 0.05), ( < 0.05) and vitamin D receptor (; < 0.05); and reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine gene IL6 ( < 0.05), it adversely affected average daily feed intake (ADFI; < 0.001) and average daily gain (ADG; < 0.05). Mushroom powder supplementation had a positive impact on gastrointestinal morphology ( < 0.05) and upregulated the expression of nutrient transporters ( < 0.05) and ( < 0.05) and tight junction claudin 1 () ( < 0.05) compared to the controls but had no effect on the expression of inflammatory markers ( > 0.05). Furthermore, MP reduced ADFI ( < 0.01); however, this did not negatively impact the ADG ( > 0.05). In conclusion, MP and MPD have limited use as commercial feed additives in replacing ZnO in pig diets as feed intake was reduced post-weaning.