hat maternal dietary nucleotides could promote piglet growth, probably due to the higher lactational feed intake and higher concentration of nucleotides in the milk of sows, and lower oxidative stress for both sows and piglets.The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary folic acid on the growth performance, intestinal morphology, and intestinal epithelial cells renewal in post-weaning piglets. Twenty-eight piglets (weaned at day 21, initial body weight of 6.73 ± 0.62 kg) were randomly allotted to 4 treatments with 7 pens per diet and 1 piglet per pen. Selleck CAY10683 The piglets were fed the same antibiotic-free and zinc oxide-free basal diets supplemented with folic acid at 0, 3, 9, and 18 mg/kg for 14 days. The results showed that dietary supplementation with folic acid increased villus height (VH) (P = 0.003; linear, P = 0.001), VH-to-crypt depth (VHCD) ratio (P = 0.002; linear, P = 0.001), villus surface area (VSA) (P = 0.026; linear, P = 0.010). The analyzed parameters ADG, serum urea nitrogen (BUN) content, VH, VSA, and serum folate (SF) concentration responded linearly to the dietary folic acid concentration when the dietary folic acid concentration was below 4.42, 5.26, 4.79, 3.47, and 3.53 mg/kg respectively (R 2 = 0.995, 0.995, 0.999, 0.999, 0.872, P = 0.09, 0.07, 0.09, 0.09, 0.36, respectively), as assessed by a two-linear broken-line regression. Above these breakpoints, the response of ADG, VH, VSA, and SF plateaued in response to changes in dietary folic acid concentration. Moreover, dietary supplementation with folic acid significantly increased the lactase (P = 0.001; linear, P = 0.001) and sucrase activities (P = 0.021; linear, P = 0.010) in the jejunal mucosa of weaned piglets. The mRNA expression of solute carrier family 6 member 19 (SLC6a19), solute carrier family 1 member 1 (SLC7a1), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), the number of Ki67 positive cells, and cell shedding rate had a significant linear contrast (P = 0.023, 0.021, 0.038, 0.049, and 0.008, respectively) in dietary folic acid groups. In conclusion, our results indicate that folic acid supplementation can improve the growth performance and intestinal morphology of weaned piglets by maintaining the balance of epithelial cell renewal.Short chain fatty acids (SCFA) are the main products of indigestible carbohydrates undergoing bacterial fermentation in the hindgut, which are related to some physiological functions. This study was designed to investigate the effects of SCFA infusion by ileum on the carcass traits, meat quality and lipid metabolism of growing pigs. In a 28-day study, 24 growing barrows fitted with a T-cannula in distal ileum were divided into 4 treatments 1) Control, 2) antibiotics (AB), 3) AB + 300 mL of SCFA1 solution (ABS1), 4) AB + 300 mL of SCFA2 solution (ABS2). The concentrations of acetate, propionate and butyrate in SCFA1 solution were respectively 61.84, 18.62 and 12.55 mmol/L, and in SCFA2 were respectively 40.08, 15.41 and 9.78 mmol/L. The results showed that the SCFA infusion increased the average daily feed intake and average daily gain of pigs (P less then 0.05). Meanwhile, the SCFA treatments increased longissimus dorsi area (P less then 0.05) and carcass weight (P = 0.058), decreased the drip loss of lony due to the fact that SCFA modulated lipid metabolism.In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of maternal yeast-based nucleotide (YN) supplementation on the intestinal immune response and barrier function in neonatal pigs, as well as the diarrhoea rate and growth performance in suckling piglets. Sixty-four late-gestation sows were assigned to the following groups the CON (fed a basal diet) and YN groups (fed a basal diet with 4 g YN/kg diet). The experiment started on d 85 of gestation and ended on d 20 of lactation. Diarrhoea rate and average daily gain of the piglets were recorded, and samples of blood and intestines from neonatal piglets were collected before they consumed colostrum during farrowing. Compared with the CON group, maternal YN supplementation increased the weaning weight of litter and decreased the diarrhoea rate (P less then 0.01). In addition, maternal YN supplementation promoted the ileal villus development in the neonates compared with that in the CON group (P less then 0.01). Maternal YN supplementation also increased the ileal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) level compared with that in the CON group (P less then 0.05). The real-time PCR results showed that maternal dietary YN supplementation increased the jejunal and ileal expression of interleukin (IL)-17, IL-8, IL-1β, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- α in the neonates compared with that in the CON group (P less then 0.05). Overall, maternal nucleotide supplementation improved the villus development and innate immunity of neonatal piglets during late pregnancy. This may be associated with the decrease in diarrhoea and the increase in weaning weight of the litter of suckling piglets.This study investigated the effects of isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO) and Bacillus in perinatal diets on the duration of farrowing and post-weaning estrus, serum reproductive hormone concentrations, and gut microbiota and its metabolites of sows. Multiparous sows (n = 130) were fed diets without IMO (control, CON group), or diets containing only IMO (IMO group), IMO and Bacillus subtilis (IMOS group), IMO and Bacillus licheniformis (IMOL group), and IMO and B. subtilis and B. licheniformis (IMOSL group), respectively. The results indicate that the duration of farrowing and post-weaning estrus was shorter in sows in the IMOS, IMOL, and IMOSL groups, and the weaning-estrous interval was lower in sows in the IMOL greoup. In addition, the lowest fecal score was observed in the IMOL group during d 106 to 112 of gestation. Sows in most of the treatment groups had a higher concentration of serum prolactin and prostaglandin at farrowing, but a lower serum concentration of estradiol, oxytocin, and progesterone on d 18 of lactation than sows in the CON group. The treatment groups had a higher abundance of Candidatus Methanoplasma and Bacillus and a lower abundance of Escherichia-Shigella in their feces at farrowing. Furthermore, the treatment groups had higher concentrations of total short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in feces at farrowing and a higher concentration of branched fatty acids in feces on d 18 of lactation. Furthermore, the abundance of Bacillus in feces was positively correlated with serum prostaglandin concentrations and fecal total SCFA of sows at farrowing, but was negatively correlated with the duration of farrowing. Overall, dietary IMO and Bacillus supplementation affected the concentration of serum reproductive hormones and the duration of farrowing and post-weaning estrus, and the gut microbiota is a key factor.