After weaning, piglets from FSE-fed sows had improved (P< 0.05) average daily gain and feed effectiveness, and lower (P< 0.05) diarrhea rate in overall (day time 1 to 28) compared with those from sows fed control diet. and nursery diet as split storyline were used to analyze the data. After weaning, piglets from FSE-fed sows experienced improved (P< 0.05) average daily gain and feed effectiveness, and lower (P< 0.05) diarrhea rate in overall (day time 1 to 28) compared with those from sows fed control diet. Piglets from FSE-fed sows also experienced higher (P< 0.05) material of immunoglobulin G (IgG), growth hormone, superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity in serum, villus height in ileum, and villus height to crypt depth percentage in jejunum, as well as lower (P< 0.05) content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum and crypt depth in ileum compared with those from sows fed control diet. Piglets fed FSE during nursery experienced improved (P< 0.05) concentrations of IgG, SOD, and catalase, and decreased (P< 0.05) MDA and tumor nuclear factor- levels in serum compared with those fed control diet during nursery. Piglets from FC group experienced improved (P< 0.05) protein expression Rabbit polyclonal to KBTBD7 of occludin in jejunal mucosa and relative abundance ofLactobacilluson genus level in colon compared with those from CC group. In conclusion, for the overall performance and intestinal health, diet programs supplemented with FSE during lactation phase seemed more efficient to alleviate weaning stress than the nursery phase. In terms of the antioxidant status and immunoglobulins, FSE supplemented in both phases were efficient for nursery pigs. Keywords:antioxidant capacity,Forsythia suspensaextract, immunoglobulins, intestinal morphology, nursery pigs, overall performance == Intro == For the growth and development of pigs, L-ANAP the lactation and the 1st 2 wk of post-weaning are essential periods (Wu et al., 2014). Several approaches have been used for improving the intestinal health of post-weaning pigs, for the reason that piglets are easily faced with weaning pressure during weaning transition, which primarily causes physiological and morphological changes, gut dysfunction, reduced feed intake, and poor growth overall performance (Pluske et al., 1997;Lalls et al., 2004;Yin et al., 2013). Traditionally, post-weaning manipulations in diet of nursery pigs are the common ways to alleviate weaning-induced gut dysfunction (Boudry et al., 2004), while previous studies in our laboratory have shown that supplementation with organic acid (Very long et al., 2018), essential oils (Zeng et al., 2014), and plant draw out (Long et al., 2019) in diet of nursery pigs could efficiently alleviate weaning stress and improve their antioxidant status, immunity, and overall performance.Kim et al. (2013)pointed out the maternal diet antioxidant supplementation in sows seemed to help on avoiding excessive oxidative stress, which still needed to be re-evaluated. Recent studies possess showed that maternal diet supplemented with live candida L-ANAP or seaweed draw out in sows during gestation and lactation seemed also a reliable way to alleviate weaning stress or enhance post-weaning growth overall performance in their offsprings (Leonard et al., 2010,2011,2012;Hang et al., 2019), which indicated a novel strategy to alleviate weaning stress. Forsythia suspensaextract (FSE) is definitely a traditional plant extract; previous studies of our L-ANAP laboratory have shown that FSE was effective in improving antioxidant capacities in vivo (Wang et L-ANAP al., 2008;Long et al., 2020) and in vitro (Lu et al., 2010), and the main antioxidant functional compounds were forsythiaside A, forythialan A, phillyrin, and phillygenin (Lu et al., 2010). Furthermore, FSE could also alleviate high stocking density-induced (Zhang et al., 2013), corticosterone-induced (Zeng et al., 2014), LPS-induced (Zhao et al., 2017b), and transport-induced (Pan et al., 2018a) oxidative tensions in broilers or nursery pigs. Moreover, FSE could also increase nutrient digestibility, immune function, and thus improve the overall performance in nursery pigs (Zhao et al., 2017a;Long et al., 2019). We also found diet supplementation with FSE could efficiently modulate intestinal morphology and microbiota community in broilers or nursery pigs (Han et al., 2012;Long et al., 2019). Besides, diet supplemented with FSE in late gestating sows could increase the nutrient utilization, antioxidant status, and inflammatory reactions, and eventually improve reproductive overall performance of.