Effects of dietary tributyrin and physterol ester supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota and metabolites in weaned piglets

Aim This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary tributyrin (TB) and physterol ester (PSE) supplementation on the growth performance and intestinal health of weaned piglets. Methods and Results Ninety‐six piglets were randomly allocated to one of four groups, including a control group (basal diet), TB group (basal diet + 1500 g t−1 TB), PSE group (basal diet + 300 g t−1 PSE) and TB + PSE group (basal diet + 1500 g t−1 TB + 300 g t−1 PSE). All groups had eight replicates with three piglets per replicate. The experiment lasted for 28 days. The results showed that dietary TB supplementation increased (p