The influence of medium‐chain glycerides on performance and gastrointestinal well‐being in weaning piglets was assessed. First, caproic (C6), caprylic (C8) and capric (C10) acid activity against Escherichia coli was screened in vitro. Pig flora of the whole small intestine was used as inoculum. Seven in vitro incubations were done in duplicate at pH = 3 and 5: C10 (15 mM), C8 (12 mM), C6 (15, 12, 10 mM), a non‐incubated‐negative control and incubated negative control. Culture suspensions were plated on E. coli‐selective agar. Controls showed bacterial growth. C6 and C8 showed no growth at both pH‐values, where C10 showed growth at pH = 5. Secondly, an in vivo study was done with 80 weaned piglets over 42 days, housed in pens of eight animals (five pens/treatment), fed a basal diet containing broken rice/soya bean meal/fish meal and supplemented with C6 and C8 in medium‐chain glyceride form (MCT6/8, 0.175%) or antibiotic growth promoter (AGP, 0.020%) (Kasetsart University, Thailand) serving as control. Feed intake, daily gain and feed‐to‐gain ratio did not differ between MCT6/8 and AGP. Per replicate, two random selected piglets were challenged intravenously with E. coli‐lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or saline solution (S) at Days 21 and 28. All challenged animals were sacrificed; blood and digestive tract samples (jejunum/ileum) were collected at Day 35. LPS challenge consistently reduced villus height and crypt depth for MCT6/8 and AGP. However, LPS‐challenged piglets supplemented with MCT6/8 restored villus height, where AGP did not. MCT6/8 piglets had higher serum IgA, more jejunal IgA‐positive plasma cells and goblet cells than AGP. At the ileal level, results were similar, though less pronounced. The present study offers new insight in the benefits of MCT6/8 over AGP in the post‐weaning period. There is in vitro anti‐microbial action of C6 and C8 on E. coli. In vivo, MCT6/8 also has protective effects in the small intestine that may result in growth promotion.

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This study consolidates the efficacy of a non-starch polysaccharide (NSP)ase enzyme-concept in corn and wheat-based broiler diets. The NSP building blocks of corn, wheat and soybean meal (SBM, 44% protein) were studied first. Cereal NSP primarily consists of arabinose, xylose and glucose molecules that form arabinoxylan, β-glucan and cellulose polysaccharides. In soybean meal (SBM), glucose (cellulose) predominates, next to galactose and uronic acids that form "pectins". Broiler performance progress using in-feed NSPase enzymes depends on the concentration, complexity and solubility of the substrate and the genetic potential of the animal, mainly. A dual NSPase enzyme-concept for cereal and SBM NSP, predominantly being arabinoxylan, β-glucan and cellulose, was developed. Methods for measuring enzyme activities (endo-1,4-β-xylanase (EC 3.2.1.8) and endo-1,3(4)-β-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.6)) were developed (AVEVE Biochem UNITS) and preparations thereof (XG) standardized to meet requirements for most challenging NSP (corn, barely soluble). Feed intake (FI), bodyweight gain (BWG) and feed:gain ratio (F:G) were assessed in three zootechnical studies, each using 160 Ross 308 broilers split in two feeding groups with 80 birds/group (10 replicates of eight) for 42 d (starter/grower period). Respective corn-SBM, wheat-SBM and corn/wheat-SBM diets were used as negative control (NC) or added with the enzyme-concept (XG). In the total period, XG ameliorated BWG and F:G compared to NC in each study, where BWG increased best in diets with corn and F:G lowered most in diets with wheat. The dual NSPase enzyme-concept offers ingredient flexibility in present setting by enhancing the nutritional content of corn, wheat and SBM, expectedly from cleaving major NSP target molecules. Thereby, broiler professionals increase feed formulation liberty and safety and production result simultaneously.

Plant-based dietary ingredients contain non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) fibers. Both soluble and insoluble NSP fibers are anti-nutritional factors for monogastrics that limit intestinal absorption and digestion of dietary nutrients. Increased digesta viscosity also occurs, which results in satiety and potential health issues. AveMix XG 10, containing high endo-1,4-β-xylanase and endo-1,3(4)-β-glucanase activity, hydrolyzes NSP fibers resulting in increased nutrient availability and digestibility. Therefore, it was hypothesized that AveMix XG 10 enables gain of some extra net energy (NE) content from piglet diets, optimizing the cost of live-weight growth. A 47-day trial was conducted with 3-week old weaned piglets (6.0 kg) allocated to three groups: control (CON), low energy (-56 kcal/kg feed; LE), and low energy + enzyme (LE+E). All groups had 13 pens of 28 pigs (n=364) and received wheat and corn mix based diets that had a similar NSP fiber content (11.4 %). Overall, CON diets had greater NE (2,456 kcal/kg feed) relative to the LE and LE+E groups (2,400 kcal/kg feed). The diet of the LE+E group was supplemented with AveMix XG 10 (Palital Feed Additives B.V.) at 100 g/T. For each pen the daily feed intake, weekly weight, diarrhea index and mortality were recorded. Compared with both CON and LE, LE+E significantly increased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) during weeks 4-7 and overall, and also significantly increased final weight (Table 1). During weeks 1-3, ADG and ADFI did not differ between CON and LE+E groups, and the LE+E group was significantly greater than LE. Overall, LE detrimentally increased the feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with CON; however, during weeks 4-7 the LE+E had similar FCR compared with CON. No significant effects were observed on mortality or diarrhea index. In conclusion, AveMix XG 10 improved piglet performance when dietary NE content is decreased.