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Improving gut health and functions through the use of prebiotic supplementation after weaning is an active area of research in pig nutrition.The present study was conducted to test if dietary supplementation with soybean oligosaccharides (SBOS) can affect the gut microflora composition,bacterial metabolites and intestinal expression of genes related to intestinal immunity and barrier function using the weaned Huanjiang mini-piglet model.Twelve Huanjiang mini-piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to two groups receiving either dietary supplementation with 0.5% of corn starch (control group),or 0.5% of SBOS in a corn- and soybean meal-based diet.At the end of a 14-day experimental period,the ileum and colon and their contents were collected to determine the expression levels in mRNA of cytokines and tight junctions-associated proteins,and concentrations in the luminal contents of ammonia and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA),as well as gut microflora composition.Our results show that dietary supplementation with SBOS increased the diversity of intestinal microflora (ileum TRFs,9 vs.5; colon TRFs,11 vs.7),and promoted (P<0.05) the amounts of some presumably beneficial intestinal bacteria (e.g.,Bifidobacterium,Faecalibacterium prausnitzii,Fusobacterium prausnitzii and Roseburia) and SCFAs in the intestinal luminal content,while diminished (P < 0.05) bacteria with pathogenic potential (e.g.,Escherichia Coli,Clostridium and Streptococcus) and several protein-derived catabolites (e.g.isobutyrate,isovalerate and ammonia).In addition,the SBOS supplement increased (P<0.05) the mRNA expression level of ZO-1,while decreased (P<0.05) TNF-a,IL-ip and IL-8 expression in both ileum and colon.These findings suggest that the SBOS present prebiotic activities in weaned Huanjiang mini-piglets with potentially beneficial effects on gut,raising the view that these oligosaccharides may represent valuable supplementary compounds for pig after weaning.