Short-term dietary choline supplementation alters the gut microbiota and liver metabolism of finishing pigs

Abstract

Choline is an essential nutrient for pig development and plays a role in the animal's growth performance, carcass characteristics, and reproduction aspects in weaned pigs and sows. However, the effect of choline on finishing pigs and its potential regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we feed finishing pigs with 1% of the hydrochloride salt of choline, such as choline chloride (CHC), under a basic diet condition for a short period of time (14 days). A 14-day supplementation of CHC significantly increased final weight and carcass weight while having no effect on carcass length, average backfat, or eye muscle area compared with control pigs. Mechanically, CHC resulted in a significant alteration of gut microbiota composition in finishing pigs and a remarkably increased relative abundance of bacteria contributing to growth performance and health, including Prevotella, Ruminococcaceae, and Eubacterium. In addition, untargeted metabolomics analysis identified 84 differently abundant metabolites in the liver between CHC pigs and control pigs, of which most metabolites were mainly enriched in signaling pathways related to the improvement of growth, development, and health. Notably, there was no significant difference in the ability of oxidative stress resistance between the two groups, although increased bacteria and metabolites keeping balance in reactive oxygen species showed in finishing pigs after CHC supplementation. Taken together, our results suggest that a short-term supplementation of CHC contributes to increased body weight gain and carcass weight of finishing pigs, which may be involved in the regulation of gut microbiota and alterations of liver metabolism, providing new insights into the potential of choline-mediated gut microbiota/metabolites in improving growth performance, carcass characteristics, and health.