Nutritional factors exert manifold effects on different pathways in the organism and may have a
great impact, for instance, on digestive physiological measures, on the complex host microbiota,
the metabolism in diverse organs and on functional patterns of the immune system in the host.
Therefore, they may all have an impact on the health of the host organism and on the respective
performance. These interactions are summarized to some extent in Figure 3.3. Nevertheless,
complex knowledge about the modes of action regarding diverse feed additives such as the
probiotic Enterococcus faecium and trace elements like zinc (as zinc oxide) is still incomplete,
and mechanisms are not fully understood.
Figure 3.3: Interactions between the host, nutritional factors (the probiotic Enterococcus faecium NCIMB 10415 and
zinc oxide) and the gut microbiota
Firstly, E. faecium NCIMB 10415 is a commonly used probiotic strain in pig production,
but the