This experiment evaluated the impacts of essential oils (EO) and protease (PRO), independently or in combination, on growth performance, antioxidation, inflammation and intestinal function of weaned pigs. One hundred and sixty weaned pigs (21 d of age, BW of 6.74 ± 0.20 kg) were randomly divided into 4 treatments with 8 replicate pens of 5 pigs per pen. Dietary treatments included the following: 1) control diet (CON), 2) CON with 300 mg/kg essential oils (EO), 3) CON with 500 mg/kg protease (PRO), 4) CON with 300 mg/kg essential oil and 500 mg/kg protease (EO + PRO). On d 8, one pig from each pen was selected for sampling. The remaining pigs were fed for an additional week and growth performance was monitored during this period. Dietary treatments had no marked effects (P > 0.05) on the growth performance of pigs. However, pigs receiving EO diet had higher (P < 0.05) serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity, and tended to decrease (P = 0.063) serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). In addition, pigs receiving EO diet had higher (P < 0.05) abundances of phylum Actinobacteria, and genera Bifidobacterium, and lower (P < 0.05) phylum Bacteroidetes and genera Alloprevotella in colonic digesta. Pigs receiving PRO diet decreased (P < 0.05) the serum concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) and diamine oxidase activity, increased (P < 0.05) the villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in duodenum, increased sucrase activity in jejunal mucosa, and also increased the abundance of phylum Actinobacteria in colonic digesta. Furthermore, the synergistic effects of EO and PRO was observed (P < 0.05) for pigs with decreasing serum TNF-α concentration and increasing serum GSH-Px activity. Collectively, the results indicated that dietary supplementation of EO and PRO had no significant effects on growth performance of weaned pigs. EO diet appeared to improve antioxidant activity and intestinal microbiota, while PRO diet improved intestinal morphology and digestive enzyme activity, and there was a synergistic effect of EO and PRO on reducing inflammatory parameters in weaned pigs.

该实验评估了精油（EO）和蛋白酶（PRO）单独或组合对断奶猪生长性能、抗氧化、炎症和肠道功能的影响。将160头断奶仔猪（21日龄，体重6.74±0.20 kg）随机分为4个处理，每个处理8个重复栏，每栏5头猪。饮食治疗包括以下内容：1) 对照饮食 (CON)，2) CON 含 300 mg/kg 精油 (EO)，3) CON 含 500 mg/kg 蛋白酶 (PRO)，4) CON 含 300 mg/kg 精油油和 500 mg/kg 蛋白酶 (EO + PRO)。第8天，从每个栏选取一头猪进行采样。剩下的猪再饲喂一周，并在此期间监测生长性能。日粮处理对猪的生长性能没有显着影响（ P > 0.05）。然而，接受EO日粮的猪血清谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-Px）活性较高（ P <<0.05），并且血清肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）浓度趋于降低（ P =0.063）。此外，接受EO日粮的猪结肠食糜中放线菌门和双歧杆菌属丰度较高（ P < 0.05），而拟杆菌门和异普氏菌属丰度较低（ P < 0.05）。接受PRO日粮的猪血清丙二醛（MDA）浓度和二胺氧化酶活性降低（ P < 0.05），十二指肠绒毛高度和绒毛高度与隐窝深度之比增加（ P < 0.05），蔗糖酶活性增加空肠粘膜，并且还增加了结肠食糜中放线菌门的丰度。 此外，观察到 EO 和 PRO 对猪具有协同作用 ( P < 0.05)，降低血清 TNF-α 浓度，增加血清 GSH-Px 活性。总的来说，结果表明日粮中添加 EO 和 PRO 对断奶仔猪的生长性能没有显着影响。 EO日粮似乎改善了抗氧化活性和肠道微生物群，而PRO日粮改善了肠道形态和消化酶活性，并且EO和PRO在降低断奶仔猪的炎症参数方面具有协同作用。