Tree bark compounds fight piglet diarrhea via gut microbes
Correa F, Luise D, Palumbo F, Scicchitano D, Rampelli S
Soil Health
The same tannin chemistry that oak and chestnut trees use to defend their leaves and bark turns out to be reprocessed by gut bacteria into compounds that calm inflammation, showing how plant defense chemicals have a second life once something eats them.
Chestnut and quebracho trees pack their tissues with tannins, bitter compounds that normally protect them from pests and decay. When researchers fed a blend of these tannins to young pigs, certain gut bacteria broke them down into new molecules called urolithins, and pigs with more of these bacteria had less diarrhea. The catch: not every farm's pig gut microbes were equally good at this conversion, so the benefit depended heavily on which bacteria were already present.
Key Findings
Tannin supplementation reduced diarrhea occurrence at day 49 specifically on one of two farms (W2, P = 0.032), but had no effect on overall growth performance across the 76-day trial.
Three distinct urolithin metabotypes were identified among piglets, with metabotype B present in 50% of samples; farm W2 showed significantly higher levels of isourolithin A, urolithin B, and urolithin A than farm W1 at day 49 (P < 0.01).
Tannin-treated pigs showed enrichment of specific gut bacteria (Megasphaera elsdenii, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Lactobacillus amylovorus, and Ellagibacter isourolithinifaciens) linked to urolithin production, while control pigs on one farm showed more E. coli.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Adding chestnut and quebracho tannins to weaned piglets' feed reduced diarrhea on some farms by helping gut microbes convert the tannins into protective compounds called urolithins, though it didn't change overall growth.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Chestnut-quebracho tannins shape the fecal metabolome of weaned pigs through microbiota-dependent urolithin production.
Chestnut and quebracho tannins may support gut health in weaned piglets, but their efficacy likely depends on farm environment and microbial capacity to convert tannins into bioactive metabolites. ...
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Chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus Castanea, in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.