Citation: Sarkar, G.; Mondal, S.; Bhattacharya,D.; Ponraj, P.; Sawhney, S.; Bala, P.; Chakraborty, D.; Sunder, J.; De, A.K. Effect of a Multi-Strain Probiotic on Growth Performance, Lipid Panel, Antioxidant Profile, and Immune Response in Andaman Local Piglets at Weaning. Fermentation 2023, 9, 970. https://doi.org/10.3390/ fermentation9110970 Academic Editor: Marikunte Yanjarappa Sreenivasa Received: 11 September 2023 Revised: 26 October 2023 Accepted: 30 October 2023 Published: 13 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). fermentation Article Effect of a Multi-Strain Probiotic on Growth Performance, Lipid Panel, Antioxidant Profile, and Immune Response in Andaman Local Piglets at Weaning Gopal Sarkar 1 , Samiran Mondal 1 , Debasis Bhattacharya 2 , Perumal Ponraj 2 , Sneha Sawhney 2 , Prokasananda Bala 2 , Dibyendu Chakraborty 3 , Jai Sunder 2 and Arun Kumar De 2, * 1 Department of Veterinary Pathology, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata 700037, India; gsarkar999@gmail.com (G.S.); vetsamiran@gmail.com (S.M.) 2 Animal Science Division, ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744101, India; debasis63@rediffmail.com (D.B.); perumalponraj@gmail.com (P.P.); snehasawhney88@gmail.com (S.S.); drprakashnrce@gmail.com (P.B.); jaisunder@rediffmail.com (J.S.) 3 Division of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, R.S. Pura, Jammu 181102, India; dibyendu_vet40@yahoo.co.in * Correspondence: biotech.cari@gmail.com; Tel.: +91-9679515260 Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the role of a multi-strain probiotic compound containing Bacillus mesentericus, Bacillus coagulans, Enterococcus faecalis, and Clostridium butyricum as an in-feed zinc oxide (ZnO) alternative in growth performance, diarrhea incidence, antioxidant profile, lipid panel, stress, and immunity in piglets at weaning. Seventy-two piglets weaned at 27 ± 1 day were divided randomly into three groups with four replicates of six piglets each: (i) a negative control group (WC) fed only a basal diet, (ii) a probiotic group (WB) fed a basal diet with the current probiotic formulation, and (iii) a positive control (PC) group fed a basal diet with 2500 mg/kg ZnO. The experiment was conducted for 28 days. Probiotic supplementation showed a positive effect on growth performance and reduced the diarrhea rate. The mean body weight of the piglets in the WB and PC groups was significantly higher than that of piglets in the WC group (14.88 ± 0.12, 14.97 ± 0.13 vs. 13.80 ± 0.06 kg; p ≤ 0.001). The addition of probiotic to the diet improved the lipid panel; the WB group showed a significantly higher level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL) (32.67 ± 0.85 in WB vs. 12.48 ± 0.76 in WC; p ≤ 0.001) and lower levels of total cholesterol (mg/dL) (59.78 ± 1.97 in WB vs. 119.11 ± 2.12 in WC; p ≤ 0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL) (17.90 ± 1.12 in WB vs. 69.10 ± 3.37 in WC; p ≤ 0.001) compared with the negative control group. Moreover, probiotic supplementation enhanced the antioxidant defense system and provided protection from oxidative damage by increasing the concentrations of serum catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, and superoxide dismutase and by decreasing the concentrations of serum malonyldialdehyde and total nitric oxide. Heat shock proteins and other stress markers, such as serum cortisol, were reduced in the probiotic-fed group. The probiotic group also displayed higher levels of serum IgG and IgM at all time points and higher IgA on day 28 compared with the negative control group. Altogether, these results indicate that feeding with the currently used multi- strain probiotic formulation minimizes weaning stress, thereby improving the growth performance, antioxidant profile, lipid panel, and systemic and mucosal immunity. Therefore, multi-strain probiotic compounds may be used to replace ZnO in weaned piglets. Keywords: probiotics; pigs; growth performance; lipid profile; oxidative stress; cytokines; immunity 1. Introduction In modern intensive farming systems, weaning is practiced to enhance the breeding efficiency of sows and economic profit of the farm [1]. In modern farms, it is general practice to wean piglets at three to four weeks of age [2]. Weaning, though a standard Fermentation 2023, 9, 970. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9110970 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/fermentation