Nutrient Digestibility and Performance of Pigs Fed Sorghums Varying in Tannin Concentration

Abstract

Four sorghums, ranging widely in tannin content, and yellow corn were evaluated in two 5 x 5 Latin square digestion trials and a growth trial. All grains were grown in the same field under similar conditions. The sorgums and their tannin contents (milligrams of catechin/100 mg of dry matter, as determined by a modified vanillin-HCl method) were: Ga615, 3.40; NK300, 3.17; TAM680, .83, and G766-W, .88. Diets were supplemented with casein to provide .70 and .60% lysine in digestion trials 1 and 2, respectively. In trial 1, conducted with noncannulated, 25-kg pigs, digestibilities of dry matter, gross energy and N averaged for the low tannin sorghums (TAM680 and G766-W) were higher (P greater than .01) than the corresponding digestibilities averaged for the high tannin sorghums (Ga615 and NK300). N balance data indicated that utilization of absorbed N was not reduced in pigs fed the high tannin sorghums. Corn and the low tannin sorghums had similar digestibilities. In trial 2, conducted with 50-kg pigs fitted with T-cannulas at the terminal ileum, digestibilities of dry matter, gross energy, N and all amino acids again averaged higher (P greater than .01) for the low tannin sorghums than for the high tannin sorghums, whether measured at the end of the small intestine or over the total digestive tract. The one exception was methionine digestibilities at the terminal ileum, which did not differ between the high and low tannin sorghums. Among the amino acids, digestibilities of glycine, proline and histidine appeared to be the most depressed in the high tannin sorghums, as compared to the low tannin sorghums. Digestibilities of most nutrients were higher for NK300 than Ga615, suggesting a difference in type of tannin, or other compound, between grains. Corn and the low tannin sorghums, averaged together, had similar digestibilities for most nutrients. In the growth trial, 10 pigs, individually fed form 20 to 94 kg, received grain-soybean meal diets based on each grain except NK300. Gains were not affected by diet, but feed consumption was 9% higher (P greater than.05) and feed efficiency 10% (P greater than .01) poorer for pigs fed Ga615 than for those fed low tannin sorghums. Performance was similar (P greater than .10) for animals fed the low tannin sorghums and those fed corn.

Dose-Response Relationship between Dietary Polyphenols from Acorns and Parotid Gland Hypertrophy in Pigs

“…In addition, acorns provide high amounts of crude fibres (including lignin, above all), resulting in reduced digestibility rate of organic matter and lower expected metabolizable energy of the diet. Feed intake depression from acorns tannins in the diet can be excluded and this finding is in contrast with references [45][46][47][48][49][50][51] Table 2 reports tannins intakes recorded throughout the experimental feeding (one week) for the three groups of animals according to acorns inclusion in the diet (70% vs 50% vs 0%) and entity of parotidomegaly, expressed as percentage of mass increase (70% and 50% acorns combined diets groups) compared to the parotid gland from the control diet (0% acorns combined diets).…”

“…Scientific references report evident correlation between dietary polyphenols rich diets and health enhancing properties: antioxidant properties [11][12][13], antibacterial activity on different bacterial strains in vitro and in vivo [7,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20], antiparasitic [21], antiulcerogenic [22][23][24] antidiarrhoic [25], antimutagenic [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], antitumor [34][35][36][37][38], and some neoplastic cell line apoptosis [39,40]. On the other hand, high tannins diets might also result in detrimental effects like hepatotoxicity [41,42], toxic nephrosis [43], oesphageal cancer [44], depression of feed intake and growth rate in many animal species [45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”

Sorghum: An Underutilized Cereal Whole Grain with the Potential to Assist in the Prevention of Chronic Disease

“…This postulation is partly based on evidence from numerous feeding studies that show animals (from rodents to livestock species) fed whole grain sorghum, in particular the slowly digested high tannin sorghum varieties, have reduced weight gain. (116,117,120,154,155) In general, dietary fiber and whole grain intakes have been associated with reduced risks of obesity, overweight and with lowered waist-to-hip ratio. (156,157) Effects of dietary fiber on appetite and satiety have been proposed as major mechanisms for these reductions.…”

Significance of endogenous gut nitrogen losses in the nutrition of growing pigs: A review

“…Of the common ANFs, trypsin inhibitors (Barth et al 1993;Marty 1993;Schulze 1994), lectins (Schulze 1994) and tannins (Cousins et al 1981;Mitaru et al 1984; have been shown to elevate the amount of endogenous amino acids and nitrogen passing the terminal ileum substantially. Tannins are known to interact with both dietary and endogenous nitrogen in the digestive tract and cause decreased true amino acid digestibilities as well (Jansman 1993).…”