Effects of garlic essential oil on growth performance and intestinal mucosa barrier weaned piglets

Weaning stress always induces a large body of problems to weaned piglets, for instance, reduced food intake, high symptom of diarrhea, and poor growth performance, which have become the main issues that stunted growth of piglets (1). In response to weaning, the intestinal tract of piglets presents a damage in barrier function accompanied by morphological and histological changes, including a reduction in villus height, an increase in crypt depth, an increase in intestinal mucosal permeability, and a variation in the mRNA levels of cytokines and tight junction proteins