Effects of dietary supplementation of cysteamine on growth performance, carcass quality, serum hormones and gastric ulcer in finishing pigs

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effects of graded levels of dietary inclusion of a cysteamine (Cs) preparation on growth performance, carcass quality, plasma hormone levels, gastric pH and occurrence of gastric ulcer in finishing pigs. A total of 384 Landrace × Large White finishing pigs, (192 gilts and 192 barrows) with an average initial body weight of 66.05 ± 0.623 kg (mean ± SEM) were randomly divided into 24 floor pens, with eight gilts and eight barrows in each pen (9.2 m 2 ) as one experimental unit. The 24 pens of pigs were randomly allocated to one of three diets: (1) a maize/soybean meal basal diet; (2) the basal diet plus 30 mg Cs kg −1 diet; and (3) the basal diet plus 50 mg Cs kg −1 diet. Dietary supplementation of Cs had quadratic effects (P < 0.01) on final body weight and average daily gain, with optimal responses occurring at 30 mg kg −1 . Dietary supplementation of Cs quadratically improved (P < 0.01) average daily feed intake and feed/gain ratio, with optimal responses occurring at 30 mg kg −1 . Dietary supplementation of Cs had a quadratic effect (P < 0.01) on muscle RNA/DNA ratio. Furthermore, dietary supplementation of Cs reduced (P < 0.05) back-fat thickness. Dietary supplementation of Cs had quadratic effects (P < 0.05) on plasma glucagon and T 3 hormone levels, with optimal responses occurring at 30 mg kg −1 , but had no effect (P > 0.05) on plasma growth hormone, insulin and T 4 levels. There were no apparent pathological changes seen in the stomach mucosa of pigs fed at 30 mg Cs kg −1 compared with the control diet. It is concluded that a low dose of dietary inclusion of Cs at 30 mg kg −1 can improve growth performance and carcass quality without adverse effects on the stomach in finishing pigs.

Co-dependence of genotype and dietary protein intake to affect expression on amino acid/peptide transporters in porcine skeletal muscle

“…After the head, legs, tail, and viscera were removed, the carcass was split longitudinally. Samples of the longissimus dorsi (LDM) and biceps femoris (BFM) muscles on the right side of the carcass were collected immediately and visible intermuscular adipose tissue was carefully removed (Li et al 2007;Yang et al 2005). The samples were snapfrozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at −80 °C for subsequent analysis (Chen et al 2011).…”

Evaluation of cysteamine associated with different energy patterns in diets for broiler chickens

“…In animal production, studies with cysteamine have demonstrated growth-promoting action in fish, pigs and poultry (Hall et al, 1986;Yang et al, 2005;Tse et al, 2006). Ai & Han (2002) reported that when added to the goose diets, cysteamine increased the pancreatic secretion, a fact that could be explained by the inhibition of somatostatin, which would lead to increased gastrointestinal transit and thus enhance the enzyme secretion by the pancreas and finally improve the digestive activity in geese.…”

Effects of dietary cysteamine supplementation on growth performance and whole-body protein turnover in finishing pigs

“…Cysteamine (CS; mercaptoethylamine, HS-CH 2 -CH 2 -NH 2 ) is biologically derived from cysteine metabolism. It can be used as a feed additive in animal production to stimulate the endocrine system and improve the growth rate of fish, piglets, and finishing pigs (Tse et al, 2006;Xie, 2004;Yang et al, 2005;Dunshea, 2007). Thus, CS can be a viable alternative in promoting the growth rate of pigs.…”

“…IGF-I can stimulate amino acid uptake and protein synthesis in muscle and can greatly reduce the rate of protein breakdown within muscle fibers (Sacheck et al, 2004). CS can improve the lean percentage of finishing pigs (Yang et al, 2005). However, the effects of dietary CS supplementation on finishing pigs' protein metabolism have not been reported.…”