• 농업과학연구
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.525-530
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• 2017

Weaning is the most stressful event for nursery pigs because they are moved from familiar to unfamiliar environments. In addition, weaned pigs have immature digestive and immune systems. This situation makes weaned pigs susceptible to diseases and makes the absorption of nutrients from diets difficult. A feed approach, such as dietary enzyme supplementation, can be considered a solution. This study investigated the effects of dietary enzyme cocktail on diarrhea and immune responses of weaned pigs. A total 36 weaned pigs ($5.92{\pm}0.48kg\;BW$; 28 d old) were randomly allotted to 2 dietary treatments (3 pigs/pen, 6 replicates/treatment) in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were a typical diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON) and CON with 0.05% enzyme cocktail (Cocktail; combination of xylanase, ${\alpha}-amylase$, protease, ${\beta}-glucanase$, and pectinase). Pigs were fed their respective diets for 6 wk. Incidence of diarrhea, packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cells (WBC) count, and immunoglobulin content were measured. A significantly lower incidence of diarrhea (p < 0.05) was observed in the Cocktail group as compared with the CON group. The Cocktail group also showed a decreased PCV (p < 0.1) on d 3 after weaning than the CON group. However, no differences were observed for number of WBC and contents of immunoglobulin G, M, and A between the Cocktail and CON groups. Consequently, inclusion of an enzyme cocktail in diets for weaned pigs had a positive influence on gut health by reducing the incidence of diarrhea in the present study.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제62권1호
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• pp.21-30
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary protease (PR) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs. A total of 75 weaned pigs [7.06 ± 0.18 kg of average body weight (BW); 28 day old] were randomly allotted to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (blocks = BW and sex): a diet based on corn and soybean meal to meet the requirement of crude protein (CP) as a positive control (PC; CP = 24.49%), a low protein diet as a negative control (NC; CP = 22.51%), and NC + 0.02% PR. The PR used in this study was a commercial product containing 75,000 protease units/g derived from Nocardiopsis prasina produced in Bacillus licheniformis. Pigs were fed the dietary treatments for 6 weeks and the diets containing 0.2% chromic oxide for the last week of this study. Blood, feces, ileal digesta, and ileum samples were collected from randomly selected two pigs in each pen on respective time points. Measurements were growth performance, apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), CP, and energy, frequency of diarrhea, packed cell volume (PCV), and ileal morphology of weaned pigs. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) final BW, average daily gain (ADG), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) during overall experimental period than those fed NC. Pigs fed PC and PR had higher (p < 0.05) AID or ATTD of DM, CP, or energy than those fed NC. Moreover, pigs fed PR had higher ratio between villus height and crypt depth (p < 0.05) and number of goblet cells (p < 0.05) than those fed NC. Addition of PR decreased (p < 0.05) frequency of diarrhea for the first two weeks after weaning compared with PC and NC. In addition, pigs fed PR had lower (p < 0.05) PCV on d 14 after weaning than those fed PC and NC. In conclusion, addition of PR in nursery diets with a low protein level significantly improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제29권10호
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• pp.1483-1489
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• 2016

Most of amino acid (AA) digestibility values for feed ingredients are obtained using pigs cannulated in the distal ileum. The ileal-cannulated pig model uses pigs older than six weeks due to difficulties related to implanting the T-cannula in distal ileum of younger pigs and complications during the post-surgical recovery. However, to properly formulate the diet of weaned pigs, the nutritive value of feed ingredients should be determined with younger pigs. Thus, 25 weaned pigs were used to determine the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, energy, and apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) ileal AA digestibility of broken rice (BR), with or without multicarbohydrase (MC) and phytase (Phy) supplementation. Piglets were weaned at 23 d of age and individually housed in digestibility cages until 45 d of age. The trial consisted of 7 d of adaptation to the experimental diets and 3 d of excreta (feces and urine) collection. Ileal digesta was collected at slaughter (about 6 weeks of age). A completely randomized experimental design was used to determine the effects of MC and Phy. Reference diets (RD, 5% casein) was replaced by 30% of BR with or without MC, Phy, or MC+Phy. The RD was used to quantify endogenous AA losses. BR with Phy supplied had increased the ATTD of dry matter (p<0.05) and SID of histidine (p = 0.05), arginine, leucine, lysine, valine, alanine, and proline (p<0.05). BR with MC had been increased digestible energy and protein and SID for histidine (p<0.05). There was no interaction between Phy and MC on the BR nutrient digestibilities. Standardized amino acid digestibilities of BR, without enzymes, were lower than those values reported in the literature. The MC and Phy improved the digestibility of some nutrients and energy of BR in post-weaned piglet diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.750-756
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• 2010

Two trials were conducted to study the effects of two Chinese herbal polysaccharides, Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) and Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharides (ABPS), and one Chinese herbal saponin, Acantbepanax senticosus saponin (ASS), on the immunity and growth performance of weaned pigs. Experiment 1 was a 14-day growth assay, in which 32 weaned pigs were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments: i) 0.05% talcum powder control; ii) 0.05% APS; iii) 0.05% mixture of APS and ASS in a 1:1 ratio by weight; and iv) 0.05% mixture of APS, ASS, and ABPS in a ratio of 1:1:1 by weight. Blood samples were collected on day 14 to determine plasma parameters. Feed intake, body weight gain, and feed efficiency were also determined. Experiment 2 was a 21-day immunity assay, in which 16 weaned pigs were randomly allotted to one of two dietary treatments: i) 0.05% talcum powder control; and ii) 0.05% mixture of APS and ASS in a 1:1 ratio by weight. On day 21, pigs were challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 3 h later blood samples were collected and analyzed for lymphocyte proliferation as well as interleukin 6 (IL-6), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), growth hormone (GH), and cortisol levels. In Experiment 1, feeding Chinese herbal polysaccharides and saponin increased growth performance of the pigs. The effects of the mixture of APS and ASS were especially notable, as there was a significant improvement in growth performance compared with the control (p<0.05). The plasma concentration of immunoglobulin G (IgG), nitric oxide (NO), and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were increased in all treatments groups, with the mixture of APS and ASS increasing the level of IgG and NOS significantly (p<0.05), compared with the control. There was no difference in the NO level between the control and treatment groups (p>0.05). In Experiment 2, Chinese herbal polysaccharides and saponin showed immunostimulating effects. The level of cortisol, GH, and IGF-I were significantly increased (p>0.05), and the level of IL-6 showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the APS and ASS treatment after the LPS challenge. The mixture of APS and ASS could stimulate the blood lymphocyte proliferation significantly whether the LPS was injected or not (p<0.05). These results show that Chinese herbal extracts can improve growth performance and stimulate immunity of weaned pigs. A mixture of APS and ASS, compared with APS alone, could be a new kind of immunostimulant for weaned pigs, which could result in greater positive effects on their growth performance and immunity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권8호
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• pp.1139-1144
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• 2004

In Exp. 1, a total of 36 pigs (6.55$\pm$0.10 kg average initial body weight and 21 d average age) were used in a 14 d growth study to determine the effects of replacing spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP) with spray-dried egg protein containing specific egg yolk antibody (SDEP) on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weaned pigs. The pigs were blocked by weight and assigned to treatments based on sex. There were three pigs per pen and four pens per treatment. Dietary treatments were 0, 3, or 6% SDEP and contained 6, 3, or 0% SDPP, respectively. Through the entire experimental period, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain/feed tended to decrease as the concentration of SDEP increased in the diets. However, there were no significant differences among the treatments (p>0.05). As the addition of SDEP in the diets increased, apparent digestibilities of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) were decreased without significant (p>0.05). For Exp. 2, 36 pigs (2.63$\pm$0.04 kg average initial body weight and 10 d average age) were used in a 14 d growth study to determine the effects of antibiotic replacement with SDEP on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in early-weaned pigs. The pigs were blocked by weight and assigned to treatments based on sex. There were three pigs per pen and four pens per treatment. Dietary treatments included 1) ANTIBIOTIC (corn-dried whey-soybean meal based diet+0.08% antibiotics, 4 mg of tiamuline hydrogen fumarate; 10 mg of sulfadimidine per kg of complete diet), 2) SDEP0.1 (corndried whey-SBM based diet+0.1% SDEP), and 3) SDEP0.2 (corn-dried whey-SBM based diet+0.2% SDEP). ADG and gain/feed of pigs fed the SDEP0.2 diet were higher than for pigs fed the ANTIBIOTIC diet without significant (p>0.05). Pigs fed the diet with SDEP0.2 tended to have increased apparent digestibilities of DM and N compared to pigs fed the ANTIBIOTIC diet without significant (p>0.05). In conclusion, the dietary SDEP seemed to be partial replacing the SDPP portion of high nutrient dense diet for weaned pigs. Also, dietary SDEP seemed to be approximately 0.2% or more when the pigs fed the antibiotic-free diet for early-weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권10호
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• pp.1425-1428
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• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementation of a probiotics complex on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, diarrhea score and microbial population in pigs weaned at 21 days of age. Treatments were 1) control A (0.2% antibiotics, Avilamycin), 2) control B (0.1 % $Ractocom^{(R)}$), 3) 0.1%, 4) 0.2% and 5) 0.3% probiotics complex; 80 pigs were used and each treatment had 4 replicates with 4 pigs per replicate (16 pigs per treatment). During phase I period (d 0 to 14), although there was no significant difference, pigs fed control B diet showed higher ADG (average daily gain) and better F/G (feed/gain) than any other treatments. During late experimental period (d 15 to 28), pigs fed diet supplemented with 0.2% probiotics complex showed slightly higher ADG. Overall (d 0 to 28) the diet that contained 0.2% probiotics complex gave slightly higher ADG and ADFI (average daily feed intake) than the other diets. In a metabolic trial using 20 piglets, nutrient digestibility showed the best results in pigs fed 0.2% probiotics complex diet, but not significantly different from other groups. Diarrhea score and microbial population status in intestine, colon and feces were not affected by dietary treatments. In conclusion, this study suggested that a newly developed probiotics complex can replace antibiotics in weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권8호
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• pp.1164-1169
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• 2001

A five-week trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic chromium from different sources on growth performance, immune response and serum parameters of weaned pigs. One hundred and eighty Tianjin white pigs weaned at $35{\pm}1$ days of age, were allotted to three treatments with six replicates and10 pigs per pen. Pigs were fed corn-soybean-whey-fishmeal basal diets with either no supplemental Cr, $200{\mu}g/kg$ Cr as chromium picolinate (CrPi), or $200{\mu}g/kg$ Cr as chromium yeast (Cr-yeast). To assess humoral immune response, all pigs were immunized with swine fever virus on day 21 and two pigs from each pen were immunized with pure albumin on day 14. Cell-mediated immunity was measured by determining the double skinfold thickness (DST) of two pigs from each pen before and 24h after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) on day 28. The results indicated that: (1) diets with Cr-yeast increased average daily gain (ADG, p<0.05) and tended to increase average daily feed intake (ADFI, p<0.10). Diets with CrPi did not increase ADG and ADFI (p>0.05). (2) Dietary CrPi or Cr-yeast supplementation did not affect blood urea nitrogen, glucose, or cholesterol (p>0.05), but blood urea nitrogen in CrPi and Cr-yeast supplemented groups and blood glucose in the Cr-yeast supplemented group were significantly influenced by sampling days (p<0.05). (3) Serum proteins (TP, ALB, and GLB) were influenced by sampling days (p<0.05), but not by dietary Cr treatment (p>0.10). (4) There were no significant differences among treatments in the titers of albumin antibody and swine fever virus antibody (p>0.05) or DST before and after PHA stimulation (p>0.05), indicating that organic chromium has no significant effect on the immune function of weaning pigs. Therefore, these results agree with other research that the effects of supplemental Cr are variable in weanling pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.374-378
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• 2004

One hundred and twenty crossbred pigs [(Duroc$\times$Yorkshire)$\times$Landrace] were used to determine the effects of plant extract (PE) supplementation on performance and blood characteristics in weaned pigs fed a corn-dried whey-SBM based diet. Treatments were 1) NC (antibiotic free basal diet), 2) PC (NC diet+100 ppm apramycin and 100 ppm oxytetracycline), 3) PE 0.1 (NC diet+0.1% plant extract), 4) PE 0.2 (NC diet+0.2% plant extract) and 5) PE+AB (PC diet+0.1% plant extract). Through the entire experimental period, ADG of pigs fed PC (300 vs. 281 g/d), PE 0.2 (310 vs. 281 g/d) and PE+AB (306 vs. 281 g/d) diets was higher than that of pigs fed NC diet (p<0.05). However, no differences were found among the treatments for ADFI and gain/feed. At day 2 after the onset of the experiment, fecal consistency score of pigs fed PC, PE 0.1, PE 0.2 and PE+AB diets was lower than that of pigs fed NC diet. There were no significant differences in red blood cell, white blood cell, lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes concentrations of blood among the treatments. In conclusion, PE can be used to replace antibiotics in diets for weaned pigs without negative affects on performance. Optimal PE levels seemed to be 0.2% and the results obtained point out to a synergic effect of the combination of PE and antibiotic on performance in weaned pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권2_spc호
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• pp.347-355
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• 2022

Among edible insects, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), and common housefly (Musca domestica) have been considered as an alternative protein source for pigs. Because they are easy to breed and grow in the organic wastes, and they have well-balanced nutritional value as a protein source for pigs. The black soldier fly larvae and mealworm could replace the fish meal in the diets for weaned pigs without adverse effects on growth performance and nutrient digestibility. Black soldier fly could also be included in the finishing pig's diet without any negative effects on the growth performance and pork quality of the market pigs. Insect products showed a greater standardized ileal digestibility value of amino acids than conventional animal proteins in growing pigs. Due to the limited amount of insect products used for pig feeding study, most previous pig studies have been conducted in weaned pigs. Thus, further study is needed about the optimal inclusion level of insect products in every phase diet from weaned pigs to sows. The use of insect products in swine diets has some challenges in terms of cost, supply, and safety. Lastly, intrinsic differences among insect species, processing method, and feeding phase should be taken into consideration for the use of insect products in the swine diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제16권8호
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• pp.1182-1187
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• 2003

Two experiments involving 92 crossbred, 21 day old weaned pigs were used to evaluate the effect of glutamine supplement in a dietary or culture medium on lymphocyte proliferation. In Exp. 1, 88 pigs were fed diets supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5% glutamine for 28 days. Lymphocytes were prepared from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), ileal Peyer's patches (PP), the mesenteric lymph node (MLN), and the spleen in each dietary supplement group on days 7, 14, or 28 postweaning. Lymphocytes were cultured at $37^{\circ}C$ for 72 h in a RPMI-1640 medium with or without mitogen-stimulated, and pulsed with 3Hthymidine for an additional 18 h. The stimulation index of PBMC proliferation in 1.0% dietary glutamine supplement group and both of the MLN and splenocytes proliferation in 1.5% dietary glutamine supplement group was significantly (p<0.05) increased at 14 days postweaning. In Exp. 2, four weaned pigs were fed a basal diet for 14 days. The 3H-thymidine incorporation of PBMC, PP, and MLN cells, incubated with 0.125 to 0.25 mM glutamine in culture medium were markedly enhanced with Con A-stimulated, however, the splenocyte proliferation was not affected in the addition of glutamine medium. These observations suggest that dietary glutamine supplement might enhance the lymphocyte proliferation of weaned pigs.