Dietary manipulation to reduce aerial ammonia concentrations in nursery pig facilities.

Abstract

Two 4-wk trials (preliminary study) and three 5-wk trials (major study) were conducted to determine the effects of adding Yucca schidigera extract or anhydrous calcium chloride to nursery diets on the growth performance of nursery pigs and aerial ammonia concentration. The pigs were weaned between 13 and 15 d of age and had an initial BW of 3 to 6 kg. In each trial, pigs were allotted to three identical pig nursery rooms that were environmentally regulated. There were three diets (one diet per room): 1) control, containing 23% CP; 2) control plus 125 ppm of Yucca schidigera extract; and 3) control plus 1.95% anhydrous calcium chloride. Growth performance was recorded weekly. Aerial ammonia concentration was measured daily using aspiration detector tubes and during the last week of each trial using diffusion tubes. Manure samples were collected twice a week during the experimental period to determine ammonia and N concentrations and pH. Plasma urea concentration was determined in blood samples collected from the pigs at the end of each trial. Data were analyzed using split-plot and Latin square designs for the preliminary and major studies, respectively. Feed intake was similar among pigs fed all three diets. There were no differences in ADG and ADG/ADFI (G/F) between pigs fed the control diet and pigs fed the yucca extract diet (P > or = 0.41). In all trials, pigs fed the calcium chloride diet had lower ADG and G/F than pigs fed the other two diets (P < 0.05). In the preliminary study, aerial ammonia tended to be greater in the rooms in which pigs were fed the control diet than in the rooms with pigs fed the yucca extract diet (P = 0.08) and the calcium chloride diet (P = 0.11). In the major study, aerial ammonia increased weekly (diet x week; P < 0.001) in all rooms. In the 4th wk, ammonia concentrations were greater (P < 0.001) in the rooms in which pigs were fed the control diet than in the rooms in which the other two diets were fed. Dietary treatment had no effect on plasma urea concentration (P > or = 0.10), manure ammonia and N concentrations (P > or = 0.50), and manure pH (P > or = 0.78). Although aerial ammonia concentrations were relatively low, the addition of Yucca schidigera extract or calcium chloride to the diet of nursery pigs reduced ammonia concentrations in the nursery rooms.

Nitrogen Excretion and Ammonia Emissions from Pigs Fed Modified Diets

“…Group ADG and G:F did not differ with week of the trial (P 5 0.190 and P 5 0.125, respectively). Similar results were reported by Colina et al (2001) and Yen and Pond (1993), when feeding 125 m g kg 21 of yucca extract to nursery pigs, by Amon et al (1995) feeding 65 m g kg 21 to growing pigs, and by Van den Berghel et al (2000) feeding 120 m g kg 21 to growingfinishing pigs. In contrast, Mader and Brumm (1987) noted a significant improvement in feed efficiency of finishing pigs fed 63 m g kg 21 of yucca sarsaponin, and Cole and Tuck (1995) noted improvements in ADG when feeding growing-finishing pigs 120 mg kg 21 of yucca.…”

“…Cromwell et al (1985) reported a tendency for improvement in growth performance when feeding nursery pigs diets containing 62 or 125 mg kg 21 yucca, but no effect when feeding growing-finishing pigs a diet containing 62 m g kg 21 yucca. Improvements in performance associated with the feeding of yucca extract have generally been attributed to health improvements related to reducing aerial ammonia concentrations in confinement buildings (Colina et al, 2001). In this study, aerial ammonia concentrations were kept low by the relatively high ventilation rates, and neither the growth performance (Table 2) nor aerial ammonia concentrations (Table 4) were affected by the dose of yucca fed to pigs.…”

“…Diets offered in Trial 2 were based on the formulation for diet L in Trial 1 with the only treatment differences being the amount of Yucca schidigera extract (De-Odorase2X; Alltech, Nicholasville, KY) added during mixing. Although the specific mechanism is unknown, the extract of Yucca schidigera has been proposed to improve ammonia emissions by binding ammonia through the glyco-components contained within the extract or through an inhibition of urease activity (Colina et al, 2001). Diet L 1 0 contained no yucca, L 1 62.5 contained 62.5 mg of De-Odorase per kg of diet, and L 1 125 included 125 mg De-Odorase kg 21 diet.…”

Increasing levels of zeolite and Yucca schidigera in diets for adult cats

“…Yucca schidigera in the feed decreases the serum concentration in the urea. Colina et al (2001) have noticed no change in blood urea of pigs, as Maia et al (2010) has found no difference between the values of blood urea for dogs fed diets containing 250 ppm Yucca schidigera and 0.75% zeolite when compared with the control feed. Likewise, in this study there was no difference in the levels of urea (Table 5) and creatinine (Table 6) (p>0.05).…”

Comparação da adição de extratos vegetais e antimicrobianos sintéticos para leitões na creche através de meta-análise

“…A análise individual das publicações mostra diferenças significativas de ganho de peso para antimicrobianos sintéticos (OETTING, 2005;LOVATTO et al, 2005) ou não mostra diferenças entre AS e EV (COLINA et al, 2001;TURNER et al, 2002;HERMANN et al, 2003). Entretanto, quando estes experimentos são analisados de forma global, não apresentam as diferenças.…”