Effects of Dietary Histidine on Growth Performance, Serum Amino Acids, and Intestinal Morphology and Microbiota Communities in Low Protein Diet-Fed Piglets

Previous study showed that low protein diet-fed pigs are characterized by lower histidine concentration in the serum and muscle, suggesting that histidine may involve in protein-restricted response. Thus, the current study mainly investigated the effects of dietary histidine on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and amino acids, intestinal morphology, and microbiota communities in low protein diet-challenged-piglets. The results showed that protein restriction inhibited growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and amino acids, and gut microbiota but had little effect on intestinal morphology. Dietary supplementation with histidine markedly enhanced serum histidine level and restored tryptophan concentration in low protein diet-fed piglets, while growth performance and intestinal morphology were not markedly altered in histidine-treated piglets. In addition, histidine exposure failed to affect bacterial diversity (observed species, Shannon, Simpson, Chao1, ACE, and phylogenetic diversity), but histidine-treated piglets exhibited higher abundances of Butyrivibrio and Bacteroides compared with the control and protein-restricted piglets. In conclusion, dietary histidine in low protein diet enhanced histidine concentration and affected gut microbiota (Butyrivibrio and Bacteroides) but failed to improve growth performance and intestinal morphology.