Dietary supplementation with coated zinc oxide enhanced growth performance by modulating systemic immunity and microbial composition in weaned pigs.
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
- 2Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea.
- 3Department of Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea.
- 4Department of Animal Biotechnology, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea.
- 5Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
- 6Division of Animal Bioscience and Integrated Biotechnology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Korea.
Abstract
Dietary zinc oxide (ZnO) is widely adopted in the swine industry to alleviate post-weaning diarrhea and promote the growth performance of weaned pigs. However, its low rate of absorption in the gastrointestinal tract leads to excessive excretion, which causes severe environmental pollution. To overcome this limitation, dietary coated ZnO (CZO) has been studied to enhance zinc absorption and mitigate its environmental influence. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dietary CZO on growth performance, frequency of diarrhea, nutrient digestibility, hematological and immune responses, and fecal microbiota of weaned pigs. A total of 72 weaned pigs (7.30 ± 0.01 kg of average initial body weight; 28 days old) were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen; 6 replicates/treatment): basal weaner diet (CON), CON with 2,500 ppm of ZnO (HZO), and CON with 200 mg/kg of CZO. The experiment was conducted for 6 weeks. The CZO group increased (p < 0.05) average daily gain and gain to feed ratio and showed tendency to reduce (p = 0.094) the frequency of diarrhea compared with the CON group during the first two weeks after weaning. The CZO group showed a tendency for the lowest levels of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (p = 0.072) on day 7 and hematocrit (p = 0.083) on day 14 and the highest (p = 0.072) levels of the immunoglobulin M on day 14 among the treatment groups. The HZO group tended to have the lowest (p = 0.078) serum cortisol levels on day 7 among all treatments. At the genus level of gut microbiota analysis, the dietary CZO group showed a higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Prevotella, Eubacterium, and Lactobacillus than pigs treated with the CON diet. The HZO group showed a higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Eubacterium and Lactobacillus than the CON group. Our results demonstrated that dietary CZO supplementation enhanced growth performance and reduced the incidence of diarrhea by modulating systemic immune responses and shifting fecal microbial compositions in weaned pigs, suggesting its potential as an alternative to the high dose ZnO diets.
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BibTeX
@article{nam2026dietary,
title = {{Dietary supplementation with coated zinc oxide enhanced growth performance by modulating systemic immunity and microbial composition in weaned pigs.}},
author = {Jinuk Nam and Kyeong Il Park and Jinho Cho and Hyeun Bum Kim and Jinmu Ahn and Youngmin Park and Sheena Kim and Sangwoo Park and Yanhong Liu and Hyunjin Kyoung and Minho Song},
journal = {Journal of animal science and technology},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.5187/jast.2025.e41},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898584},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dietary supplementation with coated zinc oxide enhanced growth performance by modulating systemic immunity and microbial composition in weaned pigs.
AU - Jinuk Nam
AU - Kyeong Il Park
AU - Jinho Cho
AU - Hyeun Bum Kim
AU - Jinmu Ahn
AU - Youngmin Park
AU - Sheena Kim
AU - Sangwoo Park
AU - Yanhong Liu
AU - Hyunjin Kyoung
AU - Minho Song
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/31
JO - Journal of animal science and technology
DO - 10.5187/jast.2025.e41
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42898584
AB - Dietary zinc oxide (ZnO) is widely adopted in the swine industry to alleviate post-weaning diarrhea and promote the growth performance of weaned pigs. However, its low rate of absorption in the gastrointestinal tract leads to excessive excretion, which causes severe environmental pollution. To overcome this limitation, dietary coated ZnO (CZO) has been studied to enhance zinc absorption and mitigate its environmental influence. In the present study, we investigated the effects of dietary CZO on growth performance, frequency of diarrhea, nutrient digestibility, hematological and immune responses, and fecal microbiota of weaned pigs. A total of 72 weaned pigs (7.30 ± 0.01 kg of average initial body weight; 28 days old) were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen; 6 replicates/treatment): basal weaner diet (CON), CON with 2,500 ppm of ZnO (HZO), and CON with 200 mg/kg of CZO. The experiment was conducted for 6 weeks. The CZO group increased (p < 0.05) average daily gain and gain to feed ratio and showed tendency to reduce (p = 0.094) the frequency of diarrhea compared with the CON group during the first two weeks after weaning. The CZO group showed a tendency for the lowest levels of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (p = 0.072) on day 7 and hematocrit (p = 0.083) on day 14 and the highest (p = 0.072) levels of the immunoglobulin M on day 14 among the treatment groups. The HZO group tended to have the lowest (p = 0.078) serum cortisol levels on day 7 among all treatments. At the genus level of gut microbiota analysis, the dietary CZO group showed a higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Prevotella, Eubacterium, and Lactobacillus than pigs treated with the CON diet. The HZO group showed a higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Eubacterium and Lactobacillus than the CON group. Our results demonstrated that dietary CZO supplementation enhanced growth performance and reduced the incidence of diarrhea by modulating systemic immune responses and shifting fecal microbial compositions in weaned pigs, suggesting its potential as an alternative to the high dose ZnO diets.
SN - 2055-0391
ER -