Tributyrin and anise mixture

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of tributyrin and anise mixture (TA) on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, fecal noxious gas emission, fecal score, jejunal villus height, hematology parameters, and fecal microbiota. A total of 150 21-day-old crossbred weaned pigs with the breed of (Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc were used in a randomized complete block design experiment. All pigs were randomly assigned to 3 groups based on the initial body weight (6.19 ± 0.29 kg). Each group had 10 replicate pens with 5 pigs (three barrows and two gilts) per pen. The experimental period was 42 days including 3 phases (phase 1, days 1-7; phase 2, days 8-21; phase 3, days 22-42). Dietary treatments were based on a corn-soybean meal-basal diet and supplemented with 0.000, 0.075, or 0.150% TA. We found that the growth performance of weaned pigs was improved by TA supplementation, of which the body weight, body weight gain, average daily feed intake, and feed efficiency were improved linearly (P P P P P Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus amylovorus, Clostridium butyricum were increased, while the abundance of Prevotella copri was decreased, by treatment (P