Protective impacts of berberine in weaned piglets fed without zinc oxide: Insight of jejunal barrier function, water absorption, and gut microbiota and metabolism.

Weaning stress may impact the small intestine, altering its structure and function and lowering its ability to digest and absorb nutrients, weakening intestinal barrier integrity, and resulting in lower feed intake, increased diarrhea, and growth retardation. Berberine is extensively utilized for the treatment of infectious diarrhea due to its potent antibacterial and antipyretic properties. This research seeks to explore how berberine might influence growth performance, diarrhea incidence, jejunal morphology, jejunal microbiota and metabolism, and jejunal gene expression in weaned piglets. A total of 90 weaned piglets, aged 28 days at the outset of the study, were selected and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups, each comprising six replicates with five piglets per replicate. The experiment was carried out in two phases over 28 days. Piglets received a basal diet (CON) or a diet enhanced with 1600 mg/kg zinc oxide for days 0 to 14, 110 mg/kg zinc oxide for days 15 to 28 (ZIN), and 50 mg/kg berberine throughout days 0 to 28 (XBJ). Compared with CON, dietary berberine significantly improved average daily weight gain (ADG;