Maternal Trace Mineral Supplements Limit Long-Term Impacts of Piglet Stress at Weaning – INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES

16 December 2020 - Supplementing pig diets with trace minerals has long been recognised as a way to support swine growth, development and immune systems.

But the potential for bis-chelated trace minerals in sow diets to modify progeny genes is being hailed as one of the newest ways for producers to help piglets handle health challenges that can impact long-term performance.

Thanks to a process known as epigenetic modification, scientists have found that feeding sows certain organic trace minerals — specifically MINTREX® Zn, Cu and Mn chelated trace minerals from Novus — can impact piglet gut health and muscle development by changing how particular genes are expressed in the prenatal and postnatal progeny.

While regulation of progeny growth and development through maternal feeding by epigenetic modification has been a focus of Novus’ research team for several years, scientists have mostly focused on its application in poultry.

Here Novus’ maternal feeding expert Dr Juxing Chen and research scientist Dr Ping Ren explain what inspired them to apply their research to swine, and how trace minerals offer an innovative solution for helping piglets prepare for stresses associated with weaning*.

[Feedinfo] What role do trace minerals play in the way pigs function?

[Dr Ping Ren] Trace minerals such as zinc, copper and manganese are essential cofactors for hundreds of cellular enzymes and transcription factors, and are therefore crucial for a wide variety of physiological processes in pigs.

For instance, zinc plays an essential role in cell proliferation, immune development and response, reproduction, gene regulation and a defense against oxidative stress. Collagen and keratin, two key structural proteins, both require zinc for their synthesis. Zinc deficiency can lead to bone abnormalities, decreased tissue strength, parakeratosis, increased oxidative stress and decreased immune function in pigs.

[Feedinfo] Can you briefly describe your study?

[Dr Ping Ren] In this study, we chose 60 pregnant sows on day 35 of gestation and provided for them one of two dietary treatments. One treatment was inorganic trace minerals (ITM; zinc sulfate, copper sulfate and manganese oxide). In the other treatment 50% of inorganic trace minerals were replaced with organic zinc, copper and manganese hydroxy analogue chelate (MINTREX® chelated trace minerals). The sows were fed these experimental diets until weaning. Samples were collected from the piglets at birth and day 18 of lactation for epigenetic and gene expression analysis. Our results suggest that maternal supplementation of MINTREX® can optimise foetal programming by potentially regulating intestinal health and skeletal muscle development, possibly leading to a higher growth rate of the piglets during the post-natal period.

[Feedinfo] How does supplementing sow diets with trace minerals impact piglet performance?

[Dr Juxing Chen] Our study showed that supplementing sow diets with chelated trace minerals could improve piglet performance by improving progeny skeletal muscle growth and gut health. We saw that sow’s fed MINTREX® had piglets with reduced inflammation in the gut (this was visualised by a downregulation of NF-B gene and TGF1 gene expression). In the muscle of the longissimus dorsi, MINTREX® promoted skeletal muscle growth by upregulating histone H3K9 acetylation, downregulating myogenic regulatory factor-4 (MRF4) gene expression, and differentially regulating delta 4-desaturase sphingolipid1 (DEGS1) gene expression. These findings suggest that supplementing MINTREX® in sow diets could reduce intestinal inflammation and contribute to muscle histone acetylation and programming in the foetus, thereby regulating piglet skeletal muscle development at birth and at weaning.

[Feedinfo] Epigenetics has been a focus of Novus’s research for several years, but primarily in poultry. What prompted the move to swine, and were you confident you’d see similarly positive results?

[Dr Juxing Chen] Our work showed that MINTREX® Zn in breeder diets reduced gut inflammation and improved gut barrier function in progeny chicks. This positive result inspired us to think more broadly. We hypothesised the similar mechanism could also happen in sows and their progeny, and we were correct; sows fed MINTREX® Zn, Cu and Mn showed reduced expression of NF-B gene in their progeny, a transcription factor that plays a key role in immune and inflammatory response. These results suggest that MINTREX® trace minerals reduced intestinal inflammation in the piglets, which is similar to our findings in poultry.

[Feedinfo] Epigenetics is a fairly new way for producers to help improve piglet gut health. Why is optimising gut health in piglets so important?

[Dr Juxing Chen] The intestine is a physical barrier between environmental pathogens and the gut mucosal system, which is the largest immune organ and the site for nutrient digestion and absorption. In swine production, when a piglet is born, its intestine rapidly undergoes a remarkable shift from an essentially germ-free state to having a dense microbial population with an adult-like microbial community. During this phase, the piglet faces microbial, environmental and social challenges. Additionally, piglets also experience weaning stress. For example, dietary change from milk to plant-based solid feed is one of the most critical stressors and can cause intestinal and immune dysfunctions. Weaning stress, gut inflammation and pathogen infection combined can significantly increase the risk of intestinal disease, which will have negative impact on piglet health and growth performance. Since gut health is so important for piglets, optimising gut health by improving gut development and immunity through maternal nutrition including highly bioavailable organic trace minerals could help piglets better manage stress after birth and weaning stress.

[Feedinfo] What do producers need to understand about epigenetics to ensure they are giving piglets the possible chance of living healthy, productive lives?

[Dr Ping Ren] Producers may not be interested in epigenetics or gene expression per se. Their focus, understandably, is to maximise the productivity and health of their pigs so that they can have a sustainable business. But to get there, producers need to be open-minded to the recent advances in science that can help them achieve their goals. Our study offers producers a new solution to optimising the health and growth potential of the pigs, which can drive the economic return.

[Feedinfo] What implications do your findings have for herd productivity and profitability?

[Dr Ping Ren] Due to regulatory restrictions, antibiotics and zinc oxide are going to be removed from the tool box of many swine nutritionists in the near future. With these changes, raising pigs, especially weaning piglets, is becoming more challenging. The swine industry is continuing to look for ways to enhance growth rate and pig heath, thereby improving profitability. The findings from this study offer our industry an innovative solution to improve the bottom line for our producers.

* https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/98/9/skaa271/5897043?searchresult=1

Published in association with Novus International, Inc.