Choi Hyunjun, Kim Sung Woo
Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 7;13(13):2236. doi: 10.3390/ani13132236.
The objectives of this review are to investigate the quantitative, compositional, and structural differences of β-glucans and the functional effects of β-glucans on the intestinal health and growth of nursery pigs. Banning antibiotic feed supplementation increased the research demand for antibiotic alternatives to maintain the intestinal health and growth of nursery pigs. It has been proposed that β-glucans improve the growth efficiency of nursery pigs through positive impacts on their intestinal health. However, based on their structure and source, their impacts can be extensively different. β-glucans are non-starch polysaccharides found in the cell walls of yeast (), bacteria, fungi (), and cereal grains (mainly barley and oats). The total β-glucan content from cereal grains is much greater than that of microbial β-glucans. Cereal β-glucans may interfere with the positive effects of microbial β-glucans on the intestinal health of nursery pigs. Due to their structural differences, cereal β-glucans also cause digesta viscosity, decreasing feed digestion, and decreasing nutrient absorption in the GIT of nursery pigs. Specifically, cereal β-glucans are based on linear glucose molecules linked by β-(1,3)- and β-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds with relatively high water-soluble properties, whereas microbial β-glucans are largely linked with β-(1,3)- and β-(1,6)-glycosidic bonds possessing insoluble properties. From the meta-analysis, the weight gain and feed intake of nursery pigs increased by 7.6% and 5.3%, respectively, through the use of yeast β-glucans (from ), and increased by 11.6% and 6.9%, respectively, through the use of bacterial β-glucans (from sp.), whereas the use of cereal β-glucans did not show consistent responses. The optimal use of yeast β-glucans () was 50 mg/kg in nursery pig diets based on a meta-analysis. Collectively, use of microbial β-glucans can improve the intestinal health of nursery pigs, enhancing immune conditions, whereas the benefits of cereal β-glucans on intestinal health were not consistent.
本综述的目的是研究β-葡聚糖的数量、组成和结构差异，以及β-葡聚糖对保育猪肠道健康和生长的功能影响。禁止在饲料中添加抗生素增加了对抗生素替代品的研究需求，以维持保育猪的肠道健康和生长。有人提出，β-葡聚糖通过对保育猪肠道健康产生积极影响来提高其生长效率。然而，基于其结构和来源，它们的影响可能有很大差异。β-葡聚糖是存在于酵母、细菌、真菌和谷物（主要是大麦和燕麦）细胞壁中的非淀粉多糖。谷物中β-葡聚糖的总含量远高于微生物β-葡聚糖。谷物β-葡聚糖可能会干扰微生物β-葡聚糖对保育猪肠道健康的积极作用。由于其结构差异，谷物β-葡聚糖还会导致食糜粘度增加，降低饲料消化率，并减少保育猪胃肠道中的营养吸收。具体而言，谷物β-葡聚糖基于由β-(1,3)-和β-(1,4)-糖苷键连接的线性葡萄糖分子，具有相对较高的水溶性，而微生物β-葡聚糖主要由具有不溶性的β-(1,3)-和β-(1,6)-糖苷键连接。荟萃分析表明，使用酵母β-葡聚糖（来自），保育猪的体重增加和采食量分别增加了7.6%和5.3%，使用细菌β-葡聚糖（来自sp.）分别增加了11.6%和6.9%，而使用谷物β-葡聚糖并未显示出一致的反应。基于荟萃分析，保育猪日粮中酵母β-葡聚糖（）的最佳使用量为50 mg/kg。总体而言，使用微生物β-葡聚糖可以改善保育猪的肠道健康，增强免疫状况，而谷物β-葡聚糖对肠道健康的益处并不一致。
