Silymarin Modulates Microbiota in the Gut to Improve the Health of Sow from Late Gestation to Lactation

Abstract

Inflammatory responses reduce milk production in lactating sows. Silymarin may modulate inflammatory reactions. Here, we aimed to verify whether dietary silymarin supplementation could alleviate inflammatory responses in lactating sows through microbiota change in the gut. We also investigated how silymarin impacts inflammatory response in lactating sows. One hundred and ten sows were randomly assigned to a control diet (basal diet) or treatment diet (basal diet and 40 g/d silymarin) from the 108th day of gestation to weaning. Blood, milk, and feces from sows were collected for analysis. It was shown in the results that dietary silymarin supplementation decreased the level of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β (p p = 0.06) somatic cell count in the colostrum of sows. Dietary silymarin supplementation reduced the gut bacterial community and the richness of the gut microbial community (p p p = 0.09, 0.06) at the phylum level. It is suggested that dietary silymarin supplementation in late gestation until lactation has anti-inflammatory effects in lactation sow, which could be associated with the modulation of gut microbiota.

Keywords

• inflammation
• microbiota
• silymarin
• sow