Effects of dietary oregano essential oil and vitamin E supplementation on meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology in pigs following transport stress

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of dietary oregano essential oil (OEO) and vitamin E (Vit E) supplementation on meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology in pigs following transport stress. A total of 288 finishing pigs were randomly assigned to three groups: a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented either with 200 mg/kg Vit E or 25 mg/kg OEO. After a 28-day feeding trial, total of 132 finishing pigs according diet and transport stress were assigned to one of four treatment groups: 1) control treatment without transport stress (Control group), 2) control treatment with 5-hr transport stress (Negative group), 3) Vit E treatment with 5-hr transport stress and 4) OEO treatment with 5-hr transport stress. Transport stress pigs had lower muscle 45 min pH (pHi) and higher drip loss than control pigs. Dietary OEO and Vit E supplementation significantly increased 45min pH under transport stress, and the OEO groups produced lower 24-hr drip loss values (P<0.05) than that of pigs from the negative group. The OEO-supplemented pigs showed decreased serum levels of creatine kinase (CK) and cortisol (P<0.05), and decreased Hsp 27 (heat shock protein 27) and Hsp 70 (heat shock protein 70) mRNA expression in the muscle (P<0.05). Additionally, histological analysis revealed intestinal epithelial damage in transport stress pigs that was reversed by dietary supplementation with OEO. In conclusion, supplementation with dietary OEO may be superior to supplementation with dietary Vit E in alleviating the meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology of pigs after challenge due to transportation stress.

Effects of Three Distinct 2-Week Long Diet Strategies After Transport on Weaned Pigs' Short and Long-Term Welfare Markers, Behaviors, and Microbiota

“…Besides preventing agonistic interactions from happening, an optimal ratio of fat, cholesterol and carbohydrate can even promote positive non-agonistic social interactions (52). Stress levels and fearful emotions can also be decreased with a large range of feed supplementation: vitamin E (46,53), magnesium (47), tryptophan (48,(54)(55)(56), aromatic plant extracts (53,57), chitosan (58), and the ratios of fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate (52), and linoleic acid in the diet (59). Finally, tryptophan has also demonstrated consistent effects in terms of reduction of aberrant behaviors, such as tail biting (49,60), as well as changes in exploration in behavioral tests (61,62).…”

Transport stress induces pig jejunum tissue oxidative damage and results in autophagy/mitophagy activation

“…Transportation is a crucial factor influencing intestine structure and function, meat quality and slaughter efficiency in pigs (Zou et al, 2017). It has been demonstrated that transport stress may induce intestinal oxidative stress, which contributes to intestinal dysfunction (Wei, Xue, Zhou, & Peng, 2017).…”

“…Each group had eight pigs. Pigs were transported using the method previously described (Zou et al, ). The control group were directly transported to the abattoir (2‐hr journey) a day prior to slaughter and housed in resting pens for 24 hr (14:00 to next day 14:00) with water ad libitum before slaughter.…”

“…Each group had eight pigs. Pigs were transported using the method previously described (Zou et al, 2017).…”

“…Stress caused by transportation can increase the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in oxidative stress owing to the imbalance between oxidation and antioxidant defence systems (Niture, Khatri, & Jaiswal, 2014;Zou et al, 2016). Also, transport stress could lead to dysfunction of mucosal barrier proteins and elevate the intestinal permeability in pigs (Zou et al, 2017). The extensive bacteria and endotoxin located in the intestinal tract will translocate into remote organs and further lead to local and systemic inflammatory responses (de Jong et al, 2016;Tan et al, 2016).…”