No abstract

To evaluate the effects of dietary protein levels and probiotic supplementation on microbial intestinal fermentation, diarrhea incidence, and performance in weaned piglets, 162 piglets were randomly assigned to three treatments: high-protein diet (20%), with antibiotics (HPa); high-protein diet (20%), without antibiotics (HP); and low-protein diet, without antibiotics but with probiotics (LPpb). Piglets and feed were weighed weekly to calculate the average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain: feed ratio (G:F). Four piglets per treatment were killed on day 21 postweaning to collect ileal and colon digesta for measurement of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs), lactic acid (LA), and ammonia (AM). In the digesta collected from the ileum and colon, piglets fed the HPa diet had the lowest concentration of volatile fatty acids. Additionally, the HP diet produced the highest concentration of BCFAs, while the LPpb diet produced moreacetic, propionic, and butyric acids than the HPa and HP diets. Piglets fed the HP diet had higher incidence and severity of diarrhea than piglets fed LPpb and HPa diets, and similar values were observed between these two groups. The second week postweaning was the most critical for diarrhea measurements; during the second week, animals had higher incidence and severity of diarrhea. Piglets fed the HPa and LPpb diets had similar ADGs, while those fed the HP diet had the poorest ADG. Similar results were observed with ADFI and G:F. A low-protein diet supplemented with probiotics changed the fermentation profile, reducing toxic metabolites, promoting gut health, decreasing the incidence and severity of postweaning diarrhea, and improving the performance of piglets.

BackgroundMany studies have investigated endogenous loss of proteins and amino acids (AAs) at the ileal level in growing pigs. However, only a few studies have researched this subject in piglets. Knowledge regarding AA ileal digestibility in piglets would be helpful during the formulation of diets for weaning piglets, rather than just using coefficients obtained in growing pigs. Therefore, in this study, we sought to estimate endogenous protein and AA ileal losses in piglets. Furthermore, apparent and true ileal digestibility (AID and TID) of protein and AAs from casein were measured.ResultsThe average flow of protein was 20.8 g/kg of dry matter intake (DMI). Basal protein loss, as estimated by regression, was 16.9 g/kg DMI. Glutamic acid, arginine, and aspartic acid (2.2, 1.4, and 1.2 g/kg DMI, respectively) were the AAs for which greater losses were seen. The AID of protein and AAs increased as the protein level in the diet increased. A higher increment in AID was observed between diets with 80 and160 g CP/kg of feed; this finding was mainly attributable to increases in glycine and arginine (46.1% and 18%, respectively). The TID of protein was 97.8, and the TID of AAs varied from 93.9 for histidine to 100.2 for phenylalanine.ConclusionsThe basal endogenous protein loss in piglets was 16.9 g/kg DMI. Endogenous protein was rich in glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and arginine, which represented 32.7% of endogenous protein loss in weaning piglets. The TID of casein was high and varied from 93.0 for histidine to 100.2 for phenylalanine.

. Cultivation was performed directly in irrigated furrows without fertilizers. The same soil type was used for both cropping systems. Number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter, length of seeds, panicle length, biomass and grain yield, grain area, percentage of popped and sprouted grain, and chemical composition were compared. The variables under greenhouse cultivation yielded superior results were grain yield (26.5%), biomass (61.2%), plant height (87.4%), stem diameter (24.3%), number of leaves (2.4%), panicle length (18.4%), percentage of popped grain (2%) and sprouted grain (7%) than field cultivation. Open field cultivation improved protein, fat and ash (9.0%, 17.6% and 43.1%, respectively), and grain size (22.5%) than greenhouse production. Thus, it may be concluded that greenhouse cultivation of A. hypochondriacus crop provides for higher yields, but inferior chemical composition values compared to the open field cultivation system.

Two experiments were conducted to test if dehydrated porcine plasma (DPP) and potato protein concentrate (PPC) could be used as an alternative to antibiotics in starter diets for piglets. Experiment one was conducted to test if DPP and PPC in an antibiotic-free diet affected pig performance, and faecal consistency. Eighty-four piglets weaned at 22 days and weighing 6.9 kg were used. Piglets were fed for two weeks with one of four diets: a positive control diet with antibiotics (C+); and three other diets without antibiotics added with DPP, PPC, or DPP and PPC (DPP+PPC) to measure the average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency (FE), and incidence and severity of diarrhoea (ID and ISD respectively). In experiment two, twenty-four piglets weaned at 17 days and weighing 5.7 kg, were implanted at 21 days of age with a T-cannula at the terminal ileum to measure the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients. Piglets were fed one of four diets: a positive control diet with antibiotics (C+); a negative control diet without antibiotics (C–), and two diets without antibiotics added with DPP, or PPC. The results of experiment one showed that the DPP diet was the most consumed diet during the first week, and the ADG and FE were similar among treatments. During the second week and the total experimental period the ADFI, ADG, and FE were similar among diets. The ID was lower in the C+ diet than other diets. The ISD was lower in the C+ diet than DPP and DPP+PPC diets; piglets fed PPC diet were similar to piglets fed C+ and DPP and DPP+PPC diets. The results of digestibility showed that crude protein AID was higher in piglets fed C+ and PPC diets than C– and DPP diets. Dry matter ATTD and energy ATTD were higher for piglets fed PPC than other diets. Further, crude protein ATTD of DPP and PPC diets tended to have a similar digestibility to that of C+ diet. The results suggest that PPC is a potential controller of post-weaning diarrhoea.