Gut health

[Md. Abdul Bari]

Improving gut health during disease outbreaks is crucial for maintaining animal performance and survival. Here are specific feed strategies you can implement:

1. Incorporate Functional Feed Additives

Probiotics (e.g., Bacillus, Lactobacillus) – Promote beneficial gut microbiota and inhibit pathogens.

Prebiotics (e.g., MOS, FOS, β-glucans) – Serve as food for beneficial bacteria, improving gut integrity.

Postbiotics – Fermentation byproducts that enhance gut immunity and barrier function.

Organic Acids (e.g., butyric, formic, and propionic acids) – Reduce gut pH, inhibiting pathogenic bacteria.

2. Use High-Quality, Easily Digestible Feed

Ensure balanced protein and energy levels to reduce gut stress.

Use highly digestible protein sources (e.g., fishmeal, soybean meal hydrolysates) to minimize undigested residues that promote pathogen growth.

Avoid anti-nutritional factors (e.g., trypsin inhibitors, mycotoxins).

3. Incorporate Immune-Boosting Ingredients

Yeast derivatives (e.g., β-glucans, nucleotides) enhance immune response.

Herbal extracts & phytogenics (e.g., oregano, garlic, thyme) have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects.

Omega-3 fatty acids (from fish oil or algae) reduce gut inflammation.

4. Ensure Proper Feed Form & Pellet Quality

Use well-pelleted or extruded feed to improve digestibility.

Avoid fine feed particles that increase gut irritation.

5. Control Feed Contamination & Quality

Regularly test for mycotoxins and ensure proper storage to prevent mold growth.

[Md.Rejuan Hossain]

Gut health and diet

Eat a high fibre diet. Fibre is important for our gut health for many reasons. …

Eat a diverse range of food. …

Limit ultra-processed foods. …

Drink water. …

Eat foods rich in polyphenols. …

Eat slowly. …

Eat fermented foods.

[Jeffery Escobar]

Think of gut health as a three-legged stool where the legs are 1) epithelium, 2) immune system, and 3) microbiota. Each of these three components must be aligned to have gut health. Any alteration to any of these three components will affect gut health. For feeding strategies to improve gut health we need to determine which leg of gut health is the one affected and then we can take corrective actions. For example, lectins present in legume ingredients can directly cause immune activation and a certain level of inflammation. To reduce lectin in the legume ingredients, you can apply a proper heat treatment or procure legume ingredients with proper heat treatment. Several technologies are currently available to improve gut health including organic acids, essential oils, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, enzymes, and many more. Before supplementing feed with any of these and other technologies, we should consider the cause roots for the poor gut health. For example, if coccidiosis infestation is causing poor gut health, then essential oil supplementation will not be as effective as a coccidiostat product. In summary, not all available technologies and feed additives to improve gut health are going to work on every situation. Thus, it is important to make an educate guess of the root cause of poor gut health and then select proven intervention strategies.