Effects of prebiotic galacto- and xylo-oligosaccharide on post-weaning piglet performance and gut health

In weaning piglet studies, the standard prebiotic intervention typically involves supplementing animals with a single oligosaccharide for a defined period immediately post-weaning. However, this approach overlooks the weaning transition from sow's milk - rich in galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) - to cereal-based feeds, which are abundant in xylan, the hemicellulose polymer from which xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) are derived. As nutritional support for piglets undergoing the dietary transition at wean, we have developed a sequential supplementation strategy whereby an initial 7-day supplementation of GOS immediately post-weaning, is followed by 47 days of XOS supplementation, aimed to mitigate post-weaning gut microbiota dysbiosis and the associated post-weaning growth check. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the combinatorial prebiotic effects of GOS microbiota pre-conditioning before extended XOS supplementation on growth performance, gut microbiome composition, immune response, gut barrier integrity, intestinal architecture, and goblet cell expression in weaning piglets.