Phytate hydrolysis, intestinal microbiota, microbial metabolites, and innate immune cell numbers are changed in growing pigs fed diets with varying calcium-phosphorus levels and fermentable substrates

An abstract of a study by Heyer et al assessing effects of diets containing varying CaP levels and fermentable substrates on intestinal CaP net absorption, phytate (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate, InsP6) hydrolysis, intestinal microbiota, microbial metabolites, and innate immune cell numbers using 32 crossbred pigs (initial BW 54.7 kg) is presented. For the corn-field pea diets, the greater SCFA concentration may indicate increased saccharolytic fermentation activity, which may be favorable for gut health, whereas the abundance of Clostridium cluster IV in feces, that is known to be less healthy, was greater for field pea.