Increased microbial diversity and altered local immunity in the ileum and loss of appetite in weanling piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88ab

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) F4+: O149 is a causative agent for the development of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in pigs that contributes to the production losses. Enhancement of the immune response may be an alternative to antimicrobial use in the management of the infection in weanling pigs. Yeast derived beta-glucans and mannans are reported to modulate the small intestine immunity in piglets fed a diet with high inclusion of heat-inactivated yeast cells.Here, to investigate if the novel yeast diet for weaner piglets has an impact on the immunity of animals, diarrhoea scores, zootechnical performance, ETEC colonization of the ileum, intraepithelial CD3 populations in the ileum, microbial ecology metrics (diversity and composition) were compared between F4ab orally challenged pigs fed a control or Cyberlindnera jadinii yeast diet.