Effects of blended oils with balanced <i>n</i> -6/ <i>n</i> -3 and unsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid ratios on growth performance and intestinal health in lipopolysaccharide-challenged piglets

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of blended oils with a balanced <i>n</i>-6/<i>n</i>-3 PUFA ratio of 6:1 and unsaturated fatty acid/SFA (UFA/SFA) ratio of 2·5:1 on growth performance and intestinal health in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged piglets. One hundred and twenty piglets were selected and randomly assigned to two treatments (2 % soybean oil or 2 % blended oils). On day 28, the experiment was conducted as a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments, including dietary treatment (2 % soybean oil <i>v</i>. 2 % blended oil) and LPS challenge (saline <i>v</i>. LPS). The results showed that the blended oils supplementation increased average daily gain and average daily feed intake during 1–14 d (<i>P</i> < 0·05), and reduced feed to gain ratio in the whole experimental period (<i>P</i> < 0·05). In addition, the blended oils supplementation improved intestinal morphology, increased maltase and sucrase activities and alleviated inflammation response in the intestine. Moreover, the blended oils supplementation increased proliferating cell nuclear antigen mRNA expression in jejunum and Ki67 mRNA expression in ileum (<i>P</i> < 0·05) in both saline-treated piglets and LPS-challenged piglets. The blended oils reduced C-myc and caspase-3 mRNA expressions and increased Axin2 and Cyclin d1 mRNA expressions after LPS challenge (<i>P</i> < 0·05). In conclusion, the blended oils can improve growth performance and promote intestinal health in piglets.