Exploring the effect of a microencapsulated citrus essential oil on in vitro fermentation kinetics of pig gut microbiota. Citrus essential oil on pig gut microbiota

In this study, we evaluated the effect of a microencapsulated commercial citrus essential oil, Brazilian Orange Terpenes (BOT), on the pig gut microbiota by means of an in vitro fermentation model simulating several sections of the pig gut (ileum and colon).Treatments consisted in: BOT in its unprotected form (BOT, 1.85 and 3.70 mg/mL), microencapsulated BOT (MBOT, 3.50 and 7.00 mg/mL), colistin (2 µg/mL) and a control. Specific media was prepared in serum bottles for each gut section and inoculated with pig gut content. Then, bottles were incubated at 39 °C for 72 h. Three replicates per media and treatment were performed in this experiment. During the incubation period, samples were taken at 0 h, 12 h, 18 h, 24 h, 48h, and 72h of fermentation to analyze the microbial composition by 16S rRNA sequencing and the short-chain fatty acids production.