A total of 126 crossbred weanling pigs (average body weight of 6.3±0.3 kg) were used to investigate the effect of chitooligosaccharide (COS) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, pH of gastro-intestinal tract (GI), intestinal and fecal microflora of young piglets. Pigs were allocated to three dietary treatments based on body weight and gender in a single factorial arrangement. Treatments were control (No COS), T1 (0.2% COS during starter (6-13 kg) and 0.1% COS during grower (13-30 kg) phases, and T2 (0.4% COS during starter (6-13 kg) and 0.3% COS during grower (13-30 kg) phases, respectively. Each treatment had 3 replicates and 14 pigs were raised in each pen. COS is a low molecular weight water-soluble chitosan that can be obtained from chitin of the crab shell after deacetylation with concentrated sodium hydroxide at high temperature and then further decomposition by chitosanase enzyme in the presence of ascorbic acid. For the starter and grower periods, there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in average daily gain (ADG) and feed to gain ratio among treatments. However, during the overall period (6-30 kg), T2 showed better (p<0.05) feed to gain ratio than other treatments. A digestibility study was conducted at the end of grower phase which showed improvement (p<0.05) in DM and crude fat digestibility in T2 over the control. At 25 kg body weight, 6 pigs per treatment (2 per replicate) were sacrificed to determine the effect of diets on pH and microbial count at different sections of the GI tract. The pH of the cecal contents in pigs fed 0.1% COS was higher (p<0.05) than in the other treatments. Total anaerobic bacterial number increased from cecum to rectum in all treatments. The weekly total bacterial counts showed higher (p<0.05) in feces of pigs fed COS than that of untreated pigs at the 8 th week. The number of fecal E. coli in untreated pigs at 4 th wk was 7.35 log CFU/g compared to 6.71 and 6.54 log CFU/g in 0.1 and 0.3% COStreated pigs, respectively. Similarly, at 8 th wk, fecal clostridium spp. were lower in pigs fed 0.3% COS (5.43 log CFU/g) than in untreated pigs (6.26 log CFU/g). In conclusion, these results indicated that chito-oligosaccharide could improve feed efficiency in young pigs and inhibited the growth of harmful bacteria.

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The experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin E-polyethylene glycol complex (VE-PEG) in commercial broilers. Three hundred and thirty Ross broiler chickens, 4 days old, were randomly distributed and allotted to 5 dietary treatments for six weeks. The vitamin E (VE) levels in the 5 dietary treatments were, mg/kg: 1. 0 (negative control), 2. 200 α-tocopheryl acetate, 3. 10 VE-PEG, 4. 20 VE-PEG, and 5. 50 VE-PEG. Overall study showed that supplementation of VE has improved the weight gain at 20 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg VE-PEG and 200 mg/kg VE levels, over those fed 0 or 10 mg/kg VE-PEG, but the feed intake and feed conversion efficiency remained unaffected. Bone resistance was improved in all VE supplemented diets than control. Significantly (P<0.05) higher phosphorus content in bone was recorded at 50 mg/kg VE-PEG fed group. The carcass traits like dressing percentage, breast meat, abdominal fat and the meat colour did not differ significantly due to treatments. The serum levels of VE and its concentration in the muscle showed positive linear correlation with the levels supplemented. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) (mg/kg) levels in meat also suggested that supplemental VE has a protective role in rancidity. The cytotoxic T cells (CD8) and B-lymphocyte cells were higher in 50 mg/kg VE-PEG fed group. VE did not affect the infectious bronchitiserase and Newcastle disease antibody titres. Overall, it can be concluded that VE at higher levels in both α-tocopheryl acetate and VE-PEG form was found beneficial for the growth, immunity and increased the chicken meat quality.

Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of chito-oligosaccharides (COS) on pig's performance and immune response. In Experiment 1, a total of 117 Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc pigs (with average body weight of 30.7 ± 1.56 kg) were allocated to three treatments based on body weight to evaluate the effect of COS on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and pork quality. Treatments were control (no COS), T1 [0.04% COS for grower (30-55 kg), 0.02% for early fi nisher (55-85 kg) and 0.02% for late fi nisher (85-110 kg)], and T2 [0.1% COS for grower (30-55 kg), 0.05% for early fi nisher (55-85 kg) and 0.025% for late fi nisher (85-110 kg)], respectively. Each treatment had 3 replications with 13 pigs per replicate. At the end of feeding trial, 2 pigs per replicate (6 per treatment) were slaughtered for carcass analysis and pork quality evaluation. During the overall period (30-110kg), the growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility were not affected (P>0.05) by dietary treatments. However, FCR was improved by 5.9% in T2 group when compared with control. Dressing percentage, backfat thickness, pork colour and marbling score were not infl uenced by the addition of COS. With the increase of storage time, TBARS was decreased and drip loss, pork colour were improved by the addition of COS. Linear reduction (P<0.10) in the LDL content of pork with the addition of COS was noted. In Experiment 2, fi fty-four Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc pigs (with average body weight of 30.9 ± 1.78 kg) were penned (6 pigs per pen, 3 pens per treatment) and allocated to three treatment diets for immune response study. The diets fed were: 0% COS (control), 0.1% COS (T1) and 0.3% COS (T2 th day in pigs fed COS diets. In conclusion, feeding chito-oligosaccharides in growing-fi nishing pigs improved pork stability and reduced cholesterol in pork without affecting growth performance, and the immune response was improved by chito-oligosaccharides supplementation.