Effects of exogenous emulsifiers and fat sources on nutrient digestibility, serum lipids, and growth performance in weanling pigs

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to determine whether emulsifiers improve utilization of fat from diets for early-weaned pigs. In Exp. 1, 96 weanling pigs (17 d old) were used in metabolism cages, with main effects of fat source (soybean oil, tallow, lard, and coconut oil) and emulsifier treatment (no emulsifier, lecithin, and lysolecithin as 10% of the added fat). Soybean oil and coconut oil were more digestible than tallow and lard (P < .001). Tallow was more digestible when lecithin and lysolecithin were added (P < .007), and pigs fed lecithin had lower serum triglycerides and cholesterol than pigs fed lysolecithin (P < .03). In Exp. 2, 270 weanling pigs (21 d old) were used in a growth assay. Treatments were 1) control diet; 2) Diet 1 with soybean oil; 3) Diet 1 with tallow; 4, 5, and 6) Diet 3 with lecithin replacing 5, 10, and 30% of the tallow, respectively; and 7, 8, and 9) Diet 3 with lysolecithin replacing 5, 10, and 30% of the tallow, respectively. At d 14 of the experiment, digestibility of tallow was improved more by lecithin than lysolecithin (P < .008). For the total experiment (d 0 to 35), the control pigs had poorer gain:feed ratio than did the pigs fed the fat sources (P < .002). In Exp. 3, 420 weanling pigs (21 d old) were used. Treatments were 1) control diet with soybean oil; 2) Diet 1 with tallow; and 3, 4, and 5) Diet 2 with 10% of the added fat as soybean oil, lecithin, or monoglyceride, respectively. Adding soybean oil, lecithin, and monoglyceride to tallow increased digestibility of total fat (P < .07). From d 0 to 14, pigs fed soybean oil gained weight faster than pigs fed the other treatments (P < .06), and pigs fed tallow without emulsifiers had the lowest ADG. Considering all experiments, addition of emulsifiers increased digestibility of nutrients but had minimal effect on growth performance.

The effects of a novel synthetic emulsifier product on growth performance of chickens for fattening and weaned piglets

“…The results showed that the addition of emulsifier to the feed significantly increased the ADG and ADFI of chickens for fattening and tended to increase the ADFI of weaned piglets during the entire experimental period, which is in agreement with the findings of previous studies (Xing et al, 2004;Roy et al, 2010;Price et al, 2013). The increased growth and feed intake may be due to certain effects of the dietary emulsifier on pellet quality and fat digestibility (Jones et al, 1992;Roy et al, 2010).…”

“…These observations have generated considerable interest in and research on the use of emulsifiers to improve the utilisation of fats in young chicks (Al-Marzooqi and Leeson, 1999) and post-weaning piglets (Jones et al, 1992). Lecithin, an emulsifier, has been reported to depress free fatty acid absorption, probably by increasing the size of bile salt micelles, which diffuse more slowly through the luminal water interface, retarding the delivery of free fatty acids to the absorptive cell surface (Saunders and Sillery, 1976).…”

Effect of N,N-dimethylglycine supplementation in parturition feed for sows on metabolism, nutrient digestibility and reproductive performance

“…These findings corroborate with the results of a previously published study on the addition of emulsifying agents to pig feed (Dierick and Decuypere, 2004). Studies on the effects of emulsification of fat sources in piglet feed indicate that the addition of emulsifiers to piglet feed improve nutrient digestibility, resulting in a reduction of feed costs (Jones et al, 1992;Odle et al, 1994). Seeing the limited number of studies published on the effects of addition of emulsifiers to the diets for sows, it would be worthwhile to do further research on the effect of DMG on nutrient digestibility.…”

Use of re-esterified palm oils, differing in their acylglycerol structure, in weaning-piglet diets

“…However, PEH oil was mainly composed of 1(3)-MAG and 1,3-DAG species, which, in terms of fat absorption, are not expected to be as well absorbed as 2-MAG and 1(3),2-DAG, because pancreatic lipase specifically hydrolyzes the external sn-1,3 positions (Mattson and Beck, 1956). In this sense, Jones et al (1992) observed that the addition of distilled MAG to tallow increased the digestibility of total FA and long-chain SFA in weanling pigs, due to their emulsifying effect. Nevertheless, the greater sn-2 palmitic acid content of PEL oil did not enhance the apparent absorption of this long-chain SFA, when compared with that of PN (P = 0.97) and PA (P = 0.85) treatments.…”

“…However, FFA constituted the major lipid fraction in feces for all treatments, suggesting that the absorption of FFA is the main limiting factor of fat absorption in weaning piglets. Several authors have attributed the decreased fat apparent absorption in the post-weaning period to insufficient secretion of bile (Jones et al, 1992), although others have also suggested a decreased secretion of lipases due to the adaptation of the pancreas to the new diet (Lindemann et al, 1986;Jensen et al, 1997).…”