The Effect And Mechanism Of Dietary Pectic Oligosaccharide Supplementation On Reproductive Performance In Breeding Animal

Pectin oligosaccharide?POS?is a functional oligosaccharide composed of 2-20?-1,4-D-galacturonic acid residues.It cannot be absorbed and utilized directly in humans and animals,but it can be fermented and utilized by intestinal microorganisms in the distal of intestine.In recent years,it was found that POS can improve animal growth performance,affect intestinal flora and metabolites,increase antioxidant capacity,and enhance animal disease resistance and other functions.However,the effect of POS on reproductive performance of breeding animal is still unclear.The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of POS on reproductive performance of breeding animal,and its possible mechanism would also be determined.The study contained two experiments,as follows.Experiment 1 The Effect and Possible Mechanism of Dietary Pectic Oligosaccharide Supplementation on Reproductive Performance in Gestation RatsThis experiment was conducted to explore the effect and possible mechanism of dietary POS supplementation on reproductive performance of gestation rats.A total of60 healthy mating Wistar primiparous rats were randomly allotted into two groups?namely,the control group and POS group?,which were fed the diets with or without800 mg/kg POS during the whole pregnancy,respectively.On the 7^th and 14^th day of gestation,ten pregnant rats in each group were selected and sacrificed.The samples of peritoneal vein blood were collected.The remaining rats were fed until their offspring weaned.And the reproductive performance indices of all rats were recorded.The results showed that:?1?POS administration did not significantly affect the number of embryos in rats on the 7^th gestation day,but increased the number of embryos and effective embryos in rats on the 14th gestation day?P<0.05?,and increased the number of births and live births?P<0.05?.Compared with the control group,maternal rats fed with POS tended to increase the number of litter size alive?P=0.07?and survival rate?P=0.07?on the 7^th day of offspring rats,and the number of live offspring?P=0.09?on 21^thh day of offspring rats.?2?Dietary POS supplementation increased the number of Lactobacillus in the caecal digesta of rats on the 7^th and 14^th gestation day?P<0.05?,increased the number of Bifidobacteria in the caecal digesta of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P<0.01?,and reduced the number of E.coli in the caecal digesta of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P<0.05?.And POS treatment tended to decrease the number of E.coli in the caecal digesta of rats on the 7^th day of gestation?P=0.07?,and increase the number of Bacillus in the caecal digesta of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P=0.09?.?3?Supplementing POS in diets tended to increase the concentrations of acetic acid?P=0.06?,butyric acid?P=0.05?and total volatile fatty acids?VFA??P=0.05?in the caecal digesta of rats on the 7^th gestation day.The levels of acetic acid,propionic acid and total VFA in the caecal digesta of rats on the 14^th day of gestation were increased by POS administration?P<0.01?.?4?Dietary POS supplementation tended to increase serum nitric oxide?NO?level of rats on the 7^thh day of gestation?P=0.05?,increased serum NO concentration of rats on the 14^th days of gestation?P<0.05?,and increased serum progesterone level of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P<0.01?.?5?Supplementing POS in diets tended to increase serum total antioxidant capacity?P=0.08?of rats on the 7^th day of gestation and serum total superoxide dismutase activity?P=0.08?of rats on the 14^th day of gestation,improved serum total antioxidant capacity?P<0.05?of rats on the 14^thh day of gestation,and reduced serum malondialdehyde level?P<0.05?on the 14^th day of gestation.?6?POS administration reduced serum INF-?level of rats on the 7^th day of gestation and serum IL-2 concentration of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P<0.05?,and tend to increase serum IL-10 level of rats on the 14^th day of gestation?P=0.06?.Experiment 2 The Practical Application Effect of Pectic Oligosaccharide in Gestation SowsIn this experiment,the single factor experiment design was adopted to explore the application effect of POS in Gestation Sows.A total of 130 healthy“Landrace×Yorkshire”pregnant sows were randomly divided into two groups,namely the control group and the POS group,according to the principle of parity?2-4 parity?,body weight and back-fat thickness.During the trial period,diets with or without 2000mg/kg POS were fed to two groups from the first day of pregnancy to the end of weaning on day of 21,respectively.The results showed that dietary POS supplementation increased total healthy piglets per litter,litter born weight of all piglets,weaning weight at 21^th day and litter weaning weight of all piglets?P<0.05?,but had no significant effect on average born weight.In conclusion,dietary POS supplementation could improve reproductive performance of rats,and POS treatment reduce embryo loss in the middle and late pregnancy,which was due that POS improved the structure of intestinal microflora and metabolites,hormone generation,antioxidant capacity,and immunity in the maternal.Further studies showed that dietary POS supplementation could improve reproductive performance of pregnant sows.