Use of millet grain in weaning pigs diet: effects on performance and health status

Abstract

The effect of feeding a diet containing 25% millet grain on performance and plasma metabolic profile was evaluated in weaned piglets during 21 days trial. A total of 40 pigs with an 8.14±1.08 kg average body weight (BW) was weaned at 28±3 days of age and divided into the control group (C) and the experimental group (M). The C group (n=20) received a conventional diet based on the corn-triticale-soybean meal while in the M group (n=20) received 25% millet grain cv. Marius replaced triticale (2 replicates per group). At the end of the post-weaning period, the performances (BW; average daily feed intake, ADFI; average daily gain, ADG; feed: gain ratio, F: G ratio) and plasma metabolic profile (lipid, protein, enzyme, mineral) were evaluated. A slow, but not significant increase was observed for the BW (+6%), ADG (+12%), ADFI (+5%) and F: G ratio (+7%) of pigs fed M diet. No effect (P>0.05) of dietary treatment on plasma metabolic profile was observed. However, the concentrations of triglyceride (-15%, P=0.089), total cholesterol (-14%, P=0.060) and aspartate aminotransferase enzyme activity (-16%, P=0.095) tended to decreased while inorganic phosphorus (+11%; P<0.04) had increased in the M vs. C diet. The present study indicated that the replacement of 25% millet grain to triticale in weaned piglet’s diet, maintains the performances and blood plasma parameters within the physiological ranges, beneficial to the health status.

Early life histories at medieval Mikulčice (ninth–tenth centuries AD, Czechia) based on carbon and nitrogen profiles of tooth dentine

“…As this is not true in a majority of the sample, it means that either millet was part of a special diet preferred for some reason by lactating women, or was introduced as the very rst dietary supplement. Consumed in the form of porridge (Adamson 2004), millet has the ideal consistency for rst dietary supplementation, it is also easily digestible, and in comparison to other cereals has a higher nutritional value with a high content of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (Aurelia et al 2020, Kulp 2000, Weber and Fuller 2008. While this information was not known to Great Moravian people, the consumption of millet could have reduced the risk of both malnutrition and disease in their children during the period of complementary feeding and -from the immunological point of view -the extremely risky time of the complete cessation of breastfeeding (Kendall et al 2021).…”

Early life histories of Great Moravian children – carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of dentine serial sections from the Early Medieval population of Mikulčice (9th-10th centuries AD, Czechia)

“…As this is not true in a majority of the sample, it means that either millet was part of a special diet preferred for some reason by lactating women, or was introduced as the very rst dietary supplement. Consumed in the form of porridge (Adamson 2004), millet has the ideal consistency for rst dietary supplementation, it is also easily digestible, and in comparison to other cereals has a higher nutritional value with a high content of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (Aurelia et al 2020, Kulp 2000, Weber and Fuller 2008. While this information was not known to Great Moravian people, the consumption of millet could have reduced the risk of both malnutrition and disease in their children during the period of complementary feeding and -from the immunological point of view -the extremely risky time of the complete cessation of breastfeeding (Kendall et al 2021).…”