ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Differential analysis of splenic immune indicators, transcriptomic profiles, and metabolomic features in pigs under liquid–solid feeding conditions
Provisionally accepted
Yangguang Liu1*
Cuiyun Zhu1
Huibin Zhang2Fan Xie1Haibo Ye1Shiming Zhao1Qianqian Wang1
Xianrui Zheng1ZongJun Yin1Xiaodong Zhang1- 1Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, China
- 2Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei, China
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Fermented liquid feed (FLF) has been shown to improve feed efficiency and growth performance of pigs, however, its effects on porcine immune function remain poorly understood. In this study, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and ELISA-based approaches were employed to systematically evaluate the effects of fermented liquid feed on immune factor levels, splenic metabolic profiles, and gene expression in pigs. A total of 64 commercial pigs were randomly assigned to two groups, fed a basal diet group (CON) and a fermented liquid diet group (LFF), for a feeding period of 60 days. The results showed that, compared with the CON group, the LFF group exhibited significantly higher serum concentrations of interleukin-6(IL-6, 767.88±12.43 pg/ml), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α 678.32±15.37 pg/ml), complement C3(145.92±3.69 μg/ml), immunoglobulin A(IgA, 485.15±9.13 μg/ml), and interferon-γ(IFN-γ 1966.76±72.22 pg/ml). Meanwhile, transcriptome sequencing revealed that the expression levels of immune-related genes CXCL2, CXCL8, and SLA-5 were significantly upregulated in the LFF group. Further KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated a more pronounced enrichment of the chemokine signaling pathway and IL-17 signaling pathway in this group. The metabolomic analysis revealed that fermented liquid feed altered the metabolic profile of the spleen, primarily affecting the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids and linoleic acid metabolism. Integrated analysis indicated that fermented liquid feed reprogrammed metabolic patterns by · modulating the expression of immune-related genes. In conclusion, our findings indicate that fermented liquid feed significantly enhances immune function in pigs, providing a theoretical basis for its scientific application and promotion in healthy farming of pigs.
Keywords: Fermented liquid feed, Immunity, Metabolome, pig, Transcriptome
Received: 01 Nov 2025; Accepted: 15 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhu, Zhang, Xie, Ye, Zhao, Wang, Zheng, Yin and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yangguang Liu
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