A Multi-Target Intervention Enhances Intestinal Integrity and Reduces Intestinal Stress in Weaned Piglets Fed Diets Naturally Contaminated with Mixtures of Fusarium Mycotoxins

This study aimed to determine the effects of a multi-target intervention on intestinal health and production performance in weaned piglets fed diets contaminated with a mixture of Fusarium toxins. To mimic farm conditions, naturally contaminated ingredients were used. In brief, piglets were exposed to four diets contaminated with multiple mycotoxins for 35 days post-weaning. Two maize batches were selected to prepare the experimental diets to obtain low (L_MYC) and high (H_MYC) multi-contaminated diets, either supplemented or not with a blend of bentonite, yeast cell wall, gingko biloba, and silymarin, resulting in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Growth performance of the piglets was assessed for two feeding periods—days 0–14 and days 14–35 post-weaning—as well as for the overall experimental period (days 0–35). Furthermore, in vivo intestinal integrity was assessed on days 7 and 21 post-weaning by inoculating piglets with fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC-d) via oral gavage and subsequent blood sampling. Faecal samples were collected at the same time points for untargeted metabolomic analysis. The H_MYC diet impaired the growth performance of the piglets during the first 14 days of the experiment and negatively impacted the intestinal barrier, and also led to intestinal stress on day 21 post-weaning. Dietary supplementation with the blend improved the intestinal integrity on day 21 post-weaning and counteracted the stress caused by the mycotoxins regardless of their levels in the diet.