Chito-oligosaccharide as growth promoter replacement for weaned piglets: performance, morphometry, and immune system

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the chito-oligosaccharide (COS) against two growth promoter antibiotics, colistin and lincomycin, with respect to growth performance, incidence of diarrhea, visceral characteristics, morphometry, and serum immunoglobulin levels (IgA, IgG, and IgM). A total of 96 Pen Ar Lan® piglets (48 barrows and 48 females), weaned at 17 days and with body weight (BW) 5.33 ± 0.37 kg, were subjected to the evaluation of growth performance and serum. Twenty-four animals, females, 35-day-old and with BW 6.86 ± 0.64 kg, were used for the assessment of histology and visceral organ weight. The three treatments were a basic diet formulation supplemented with COS (100 mg kg-1), colistin (40 mg kg-1), or lincomycin (4.4 mg kg-1). The antibiotic treatments showed higher average daily gain (ADG) than COS treatment during the period of 49 to 63 days; whereas the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was higher and incidence of diarrhea was lower for the colistin treatment than for other treatments. The spleen weight and the small intestinal length were higher and duodenal pH was lower for COS than for antibiotics. Morphometry indicated greater villus height and higher ratio of villus height to crypt depth with colistin than with COS and a lower lesion score compared with other treatments. The serum IgA concentration was higher for COS in 35-day-old piglets. According to the results, COS was not efficient to replace colistin as a growth promoter for piglets weaned at 17 days; however, the results related to the immune system suggested that COS is a potentially promising product during weaning.

Biological Effects and Applications of Chitosan and Chito-Oligosaccharides

“…The effectiveness and nutritional significance of COS as an animal-feed additive are summarized in Table 1. Importantly, a number of beneficial impacts have been noted during the weaning stage—a vital time for growing pigs, during which they are subject to environmental, immunological and nutritional pressures that frequently exert detrimental effects on a range of metabolic functions, resulting in digestive illnesses, diarrhea, limited growth and increased mortality (Swiatkiewicz et al, 2015; Oliveira et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2017). For instance, (Liu et al, 2008) performed a study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary COS supplementation (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg) on growth performance, fecal shedding of E. coli and Lactobacillus , nutrient digestibility, and small intestinal morphology in weaned pigs.…”

Low Levels of Chito-Oligosaccharides Are Not Effective in Reducing Deoxynivalenol Toxicity in Swine Jejunal Explants

“…COS showed no effect on the goblet cell density of intestinal explants. Similarly, COS-supplemented diets (30 or 100 mg·kg −1 ) induced no changes on goblet cell density in piglets fed for a period of 14 and 18 days, respectively [ 28 , 42 ]. In accordance, villi and crypts of swine intestinal explants exposed to increasing levels of COS (0.025, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 mg·mL −1 ) showed no difference on goblet cell density among the treatments [ 29 ].…”