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Feed Additives and Micronutrients on Performance, Nutrient Utilization, Immunity, Oxidative...
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Feed Additives and Micronutrients on Performance, Nutrient Utilization, Immunity, Oxidative Stress, Gut Health and Microbiome of Pigs and Sows: Third Edition

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Pigs".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 1153

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Young-Dal Jang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Interests: enzymes; butyrate; emulsifier; probiotics; prebiotics; postbiotics; antioxidants; minerals; vitamins; sows; weaning pigs; growing-finishing pigs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In modern swine production, weaning pigs and sows face several challenges, including stress, disease, nutritional deficiencies, and gut-related issues. Nutrition, particularly the inclusion of functional amino acids, micronutrients, and feed additives, plays a key role in supporting growth, immune function, gut health, and overall resilience. Sows are essential to swine productivity, and their reproductive performance, colostrum and milk quality, and maternal gut microbiome directly affect the survival, development, and immunity of their piglets.

Studies have shown that both traditional and novel feed additives, along with functional amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, can enhance nutrient utilization, immunity, antioxidant capacity, gut integrity, microbial balance, and intestinal barrier function. These benefits are especially important during vulnerable periods, such as weaning, when piglets are prone to stress, oxidative damage, and gut permeability, and farrowing, when sows experience significant physiological stress.

However, further research is required to determine the optimal levels and specific functions of these nutrients and additives, as well as to better understand their mechanisms of action.

This Special Issue invites original research and review articles focused on the roles of feed additives, functional amino acids, and micronutrients in enhancing performance, immunity, resistance to oxidative stress, gut microbiota, and intestinal health in pigs and sows. The aim is to support sustainable, health-focused swine production through science-based nutritional strategies.

Dr. Young-Dal Jang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • weaning pigs
  • gut health
  • amino acids
  • vitamins
  • minerals
  • feed additives
  • sows
  • immunity
  • digestibility
  • microbiome

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 6991 KB  
Article
Effects of Tributyrin on Antioxidant Capacity, Immune Function, and Liver Macrophage Polarization in Weaned Piglets Under LPS Challenge
by Meng Yuan, Shuai Ning, Dongming Yu, Fei Long, Weite Li, Jun Qi, Yaxu Liang, Changming Hong, Yingzhang Tang, Chunxue Liu, Gaiqin Wang, Bencheng Wu and Xiang Zhong
Animals 2025, 15(19), 2842; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15192842 - 29 Sep 2025
Viewed by 290
Abstract
Under intensive farming systems and the global ban on antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), early-weaned piglets exhibit incomplete physiological development, increasing their susceptibility to stress-related liver dysfunction and growth performance impairments. This study first investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with 0.2% tributyrin on [...] Read more.
Under intensive farming systems and the global ban on antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), early-weaned piglets exhibit incomplete physiological development, increasing their susceptibility to stress-related liver dysfunction and growth performance impairments. This study first investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with 0.2% tributyrin on the growth performance of 21-day-old weaned piglets over a 28-day period. Subsequently, on the final day, we examined its influence on antioxidant capacity, immune responses, and liver macrophage polarization using a 2 × 2 factorial challenge model, with the factors being diet (basal or tributyrin-supplemented) and immunological challenge (saline or lipopolysaccharide). The experimental results indicated that tributyrin had a significant enhancement on the average daily gain (ADG) of weaned piglets within the 0–14-day period (p < 0.05). Under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, tributyrin significantly increased the levels of catalase (CAT) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) while reducing the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in both serum and liver. Additionally, it significantly increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-pX) activity in the serum and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in the liver, and also decreased the serum level of interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Tributyrin downregulated pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression while upregulating anti-inflammatory cytokine expression (p < 0.05). Furthermore, tributyrin significantly inhibited the expression of M1 macrophage polarization markers while enhancing those of M2 polarization (p < 0.05). Additionally, tributyrin suppressed SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway activation and promoted JAK2/STAT6 signaling pathway activation (p < 0.05). These findings exhibit that tributyrin alters the polarization of liver macrophages by regulating the SIRT1/NF-κB and JAK2/STAT6 signaling pathways, enhances antioxidant and immune functions, reduces LPS-induced liver inflammatory damage, and improves the growth performance of weaned piglets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feed Additives and Micronutrients on Performance, Nutrient Utilization, Immunity, Oxidative Stress, Gut Health and Microbiome of Pigs and Sows: Third Edition)
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20 pages, 3163 KB  
Article
Walnut Green Husk Extract Enhances Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Immune Functions by Regulating Gut Microbiota and Metabolites in Fattening Pigs
by Jing Wang, Mingyang Jia, Qi Zhang, Xiangzhou Yan, Yaping Guo, Lei Wang and Baosong Xing
Animals 2025, 15(16), 2395; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15162395 - 15 Aug 2025
Viewed by 589
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of walnut green husk extract (WE) on gut microbiota, metabolites, and immune-antioxidant changes in fattening pigs through gut microbiota-metabolite interactions. A total of 60 healthy fattening pigs (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) with an initial body weight of [...] Read more.
This study investigates the effect of walnut green husk extract (WE) on gut microbiota, metabolites, and immune-antioxidant changes in fattening pigs through gut microbiota-metabolite interactions. A total of 60 healthy fattening pigs (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) with an initial body weight of 65.2 ± 3.1 kg were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 30 per group): the control group (NC), which was fed a basal diet, and the WE group, which was fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.1% walnut green husk extract (WE). Dietary supplementation with 0.1% WE significantly increased the relative abundances of beneficial bacteria (e.g., Firmicutes, Lactobacillus) and reduced pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria, Shigella). Untargeted metabolomics identified 170 differentially accumulated metabolites, among which propionic acid—a key short-chain fatty acid with immunomodulatory effects—was significantly upregulated by 1.09-fold (p = 0.03) and showed a positive correlation with beneficial microbial abundances. These metabolites were enriched in glycerophospholipid and α-linolenic acid metabolism pathways, where eicosadienoic acid inhibited the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway for anti-inflammatory effects, and methyl cinnamate synergistically regulated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling with Lactobacillus. Serum analyses showed that WE significantly enhanced IgA, IgM, and IgG levels by 3.97-fold, 4.67-fold, and 4.43-fold (p < 0.01), reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration by 82.8% (p < 0.01), and trended to improve antioxidant capacity via glutamine. Mechanistically, WE promoted short-chain fatty acid production by beneficial bacteria, forming a “microbiota–metabolite–immunity” cascade to enhance lipid metabolism and alleviate intestinal inflammation. These findings highlight that WE provides multi-omics evidence for its application as a functional feed additive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feed Additives and Micronutrients on Performance, Nutrient Utilization, Immunity, Oxidative Stress, Gut Health and Microbiome of Pigs and Sows: Third Edition)
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