Effects of glutamine on intestinal microflora and mucous membrane of weaning piglets

A single factorial trial was conducted to investigate effects of glutamine(Gln) on intestinal microflora and mucous membrane of weaning piglets.Sixty-four healthy 28-day old weaning piglets(Duroc×(Landrace×Yorkshine)) with the same parity,similar body weight(about 7.5 kg) were randomly allotted to two groups(namely the control and the 1% Gln-added group) with four replicates and with eight weaning piglets(half male,half female) in each replicate and were fed for 30 days.One boar with the same weight form each replicate was chosen to be slaughtered after feeding,then contents of recta,cecum and colon were obtained for analysis of intestinal microflora;duodenum,jejunum and ileum were obtained for making optical scanning slice to view changes of intestinal villis and crypts.The results indicated that,addition 1% Gln to diets for weaning piglets could maintain integrity of morphological feature of the intestinal mucosal,improve intestinal microflora,and reduce pathogenic bacteria.Compared with the control,lactobacilluses in the contents of recta,cecum and colon increased 2.8%(P0.05),4.1%(P0.05) and 4.0%(P0.05) respectively in the Gln-adding group,bifidobacteria increased 9.4%(P0.01),9.7%(P0.01) and 9.6%(P0.01) respectively,Escherichia coli reduced 3.0%(P0.05),2.9%(P0.05) and 3.3%(P0.05) respectively.Villus height of duodenum,jejunum and ileum elevated significantly(P0.01),while the crypt depth reduced(P0.05) with Gln supplementation.