Xie Renjie, Guo Zhenxing, Gan Haiqing, Hou Dexing, Chen Guang, Deng Chao, Li Hongkun, Ouyang Jiajie, Tian Qiyu, Huang Xingguo
College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China.
Yuelushan Laboratory, Changsha 410128, China.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Apr 22;15(9):1188. doi: 10.3390/ani15091188.
Phytosterols (PSs) are widely present in plants, particularly abundant in plant oils and seeds. PSs are reported to have various biological activities, such as lowering cholesterol, alongside antioxidant and antibacterial activities. This research examined the effects of PSs in finishing pigs, including growth performance, serum biochemistry, and fecal bacteria. Two treatment groups (each treatment group consisted of five biological replicates, and each replicate comprised five pigs housed communally) were randomly assigned to the fifty finishing pigs (equally divided by sex) of "Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire" three-way cross with 79.76 ± 1.29 (kg) body weight. The control group (CON) was given basic food, while the experimental group was given basic food containing 300 mg PS/kg (PS). Dietary PS supplementation markedly raised the levels of average daily feed intake (ADFI) and apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), and gross energy (GE) in comparison to the CON ( < 0.05). Additionally, PSs also significantly boosted the concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total protein (TP), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), immunoglobulin G (IgG), motilin (MTL), and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) ( < 0.05), and lowered the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level ( < 0.05). Both at the phyla and genus levels, the relative abundance of Firmicutes and increased significantly, and the relative abundance of decreased significantly when adding phytosterols ( < 0.05). Overall, phytosterols dietary supplementation promotes immunity and antioxidant capacity in finishing pigs and boosts growth performance by improving nutrient digestibility.
植物甾醇（PSs）广泛存在于植物中，在植物油和种子中含量尤为丰富。据报道，PSs具有多种生物活性，如降低胆固醇，以及抗氧化和抗菌活性。本研究考察了PSs对育肥猪的影响，包括生长性能、血清生化指标和粪便细菌。将两个处理组（每个处理组由五个生物学重复组成，每个重复包含五只共同饲养的猪）随机分配到体重为79.76±1.29（kg）的50头“杜洛克×长白×大白”三元杂交育肥猪（按性别均分）中。对照组（CON）给予基础日粮，实验组给予含300 mg PS/kg的基础日粮（PS）。与CON组相比，日粮中添加PS显著提高了平均日采食量（ADFI）以及干物质（DM）、粗蛋白（CP）、乙醚提取物（EE）和总能（GE）的表观消化率（P<0.05）。此外，PSs还显著提高了高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）、总蛋白（TP）、过氧化氢酶（CAT）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、总抗氧化能力（T-AOC）、免疫球蛋白G（IgG）、胃动素（MTL）和胰高血糖素样肽-1（GLP-1）的浓度（P<0.05），并降低了乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）水平（P<0.05）。在门和属水平上，添加植物甾醇后，厚壁菌门的相对丰度显著增加，而拟杆菌门的相对丰度显著降低（P<0.05）。总体而言，日粮中添加植物甾醇可提高育肥猪的免疫力和抗氧化能力，并通过改善养分消化率来提高生长性能。
