Oral Administration of Citrus Extracts in Suckling Piglets

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of suckling piglets subjected to oral administration of citrus extracts (CE). Twenty sows were used with ten sucking piglets on average initial weight of 1.26 kg (± 0.32) for 21 days. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with two treatments: Negative Control (without antimicrobials) and Citrus Extracts (ascorbic acid + flavonoids, oral administration of 0.3 mg kg of BW via pigdoser) with ten repetitions each. The number of live-born piglets in females PO5 was 21% higher than in PO3 sows. Sows where piglets received CE showed a 10% higher (P <0.05) feed intake in the last week of lactation. From 8 to 21 days, the feed conversion of NC sows was 23 and 38% lower (P <0.05) than sows where piglets HIGHLIGHTS• Restrictions on the use of antibiotics promote the search for alternatives to its use.• The use of citrus extracts for piglets was studied• The addition of citrus extract did not improve the performance of sows and piglets.• Citrus extract alters intestinal morphology and reduces diarrhea in piglets Pereira, L.P.; et al.

Meta-analytical approaches to assess citric and ascorbic acid use in nursery piglets

“…Recent studies indicated that the addition of ascorbic acid in diets for nursery piglets in the stabilized forms of magnesium-l-ascorbyl-2-phosphate (MAHAN et al, 1994;SVINJA et al, 2005) and L-ascorbyl-2polyphosphate improve piglet performance (REY et al, 2017;TYMCZYNA et al, 2020). In last years, natural citric acid and ascorbic acid have been associated with essential oils and polyphenols of citrus fruits (ascorbic acid, quercetin, rutin and naringenin), which due to the extraction and encapsulation process show promising results in newly and weaned piglets (PEREIRA et al, 2019;LEHNEN et al, 2010). Synergistic action between vitamin C and flavonoids improves the palatability of diets and increases feed intake (NEPOMUCENO et al, 2018), as well as in growing pigs enhances the utilization of nutrients (LANFERDINI et al, 2013).…”