The effect of dietary laminarin and fucoidan in the diet of the weanling piglet on performance, selected faecal microbial populations and volatile fatty acid concentrations

Abstract

A 2 3 2 factorial experiment (n 5 12 replicates per treatment, 4 pigs per replicate) was performed to investigate the effects of seaweed extracts, laminarin (derived ß-glucans) and fucoidan (sulphated polysaccharides), independently or in combination on post-weaning piglet performance and selected microbial populations. At weaning, the piglets (24 days of age, 6.4 kg live weight) were assigned to one of the four dietary treatments: (T1) basal diet, (T2) basal diet with 300 p.p.m. laminarin, (T3) basal diet with 240 p.p.m. fucoidan, (T4) basal diet with 300 p.p.m. laminarin and 240 p.p.m. fucoidan. Pigs offered diets supplemented with laminarin had an increased daily gain ( P , 0.01), and gain-to-feed ratio ( P , 0.05) compared to pigs offered diets without laminarin supplementation during the experimental period (days 0 to 21). Pigs offered laminarinsupplemented diets had an increased faecal dry matter and reduced diarrhoea ( P , 0.05) during the critical 7 to 14 day period. Pigs offered diets containing laminarin had reduced faecal Escherichia coli populations. There was a significant interaction ( P , 0.01) on faecal Lactobacilli populations between laminarin and fucoidan. Pigs offered the fucoidan diet had an increased Lactobacilli population compared to pigs offered the basal diet. However, there was no effect of fucoidan on faecal Lactobacilli populations when laminarin was added. Overall, the reduction in E. coli population and the increase in daily gain suggest that laminarin may provide a dietary means to improve gut health after weaning.

Effect of maternal seaweed extract supplementation on suckling piglet growth, humoral immunity, selected microflora, and immune response after an ex vivo lipopolysaccharide challenge1

“…The majority of research to date focused primarily on dietary manipulation postweaning reported improvements in piglet performance (Gahan et al, 2009), intestinal microfiora composition (McDonnell et al, 2010;O'Doherty et al, 2010), and immune status (Reilly et al, 2008).…”

Supplementing nursery pig feed with seaweed extracts increases final body weight of pigs

“…These results are also similar to the ones obtained by Walsh et al (2014). Moreover, a favourable effect has also been observed when supplementing feed of pre farrow sows with seaweed extracts, showing a better production performance for the post weaning piglets (McDonnell et al 2010). This better performance may be attributed to better intestinal flora, which was demonstrated in Gardiner et al (2008), who worked with Ascophyllum nodosum extract in fattening animals.…”

Seaweeds: a sustainable feed source for livestock and aquaculture

“…Deville et al (2007) reported that dietary polysaccharides from seaweed inhibit the adhesion and can influence the translocation of pathogenic microorganisms across the intestinal wall. McDonnell et al (2010) formulated a basal diet with 300 ppm laminarin, 240 ppm fucoidan, and a combination of laminarin and fucoidan in that ratio and offered it to pigs for 21 days. Smith et al (2011) optimized the inclusion level of purified laminarin from L. digitata seaweed and observed its effect on piglet performance, selected bacterial populations, volatile fatty acid production, and cytokine and mucin gene expression in the porcine ileum and colon.…”