Abdolreza Hosseindoust

Effects of dietary energy levels and β-mannanase supplementation in a high mannan-based diet during lactation on reproductive performance, apparent total tract digestibility and milk composition in multiparous sows

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of β-mannanase and energy level on reproductive performance of multiparous sows during lactation. In Exp. 1, 30 multiparous sows were randomly allotted to three treatments (0400 and 800 units β-mannanase). In Exp. 2, 60 multiparous sows were fed diets containing 3250 or 3350 kcal ME/kg diet and 0 or 400 units of β-mannanase in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. A linear reduction in sow body weight (BW) loss during lactation was observed with increasing levels of β-mannanase. The BW change during lactation was significantly lower in sows fed high-energy diets or dietary β-mannanase. β-mannanase supplementation increased the apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, gross energy and mannose. Diets supplemented with β-mannanase or high-energy diet increased milk fat level. Furthermore, high-energy diet increased lactose level in milk. Collectively, our data indicate that dietary inclusion of β-mannanase has the potential to improve digestibility of nutrients and reduce sow BW loss during lactation.

Effects of dietary supplementation of Ecklonia cava with or without probiotics on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, immunity and intestinal health in weanling pigs

Abstract The present study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of Ecklonia cava, probiotics or their combination on the growth performance and gut health in weanling pigs. A total of 240 weaned pigs (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc, 7.04 ± 0.23 kg) were allotted to four treatments. The dietary treatments were basal diet (control) or diet supplemented with 1.5 g/kg Ecklonia cava (EC), 3.0 g/kg fermented probiotic product (P) or combination of both 1.5 g/kg Ecklonia cava and 3.0 g/kg fermented probiotic product (ECP) fed in meal form for 2 phases. Average daily gain (ADG) was improved consistently in phases I, II and overall result of the experiment for supplemented groups, and feed efficiency was improved (p <0.05) in the PR and EC throughout the experiment. The digestibility of dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE) and crude protein (CP) was improved (p <0.05) in both phases for PR and EC. The cecal Lactobacillus spp. was increased (p <0.01) for PR and EC while E. coli was decreased (p <0.05) in both supplements. Serum IgG, IgM and IgA were increased (p <0.05) in the EC groups. The interaction between PR and EC was significant for IgG at the second phase as well. The villus height of duodenum, jejunum and ileum was increased (p <0.05) in EC and PR groups, while crypt depth was not affected by the treatments. This suggested that both Ecklonia cava and probiotics are beneficial for weanling pigs; however, there were no interactions.

Effects of Gestational Housing on Reproductive Performance and Behavior of Sows with Different Backfat Thickness

The present study investigated the effects of back-fat thickness at d 107 of gestation and housing types during gestation on reproductive performance and behavior of sows. A total of 64 crossbred sows (Landrace×Yorkshire) in their 3 to 4 parities were allotted to one of four treatments (n = 16) over two consecutive parities. During each parity, sows were assigned to two gestational housing types (stall or group housing) and two level of back-fat thickness (<20 or ≥20) at d 107 of gestation. Gestating sows were transferred from gestational crates to stalls or pens (group housing) 5 weeks before farrowing. All sows were moved to farrowing crates on d 109 of gestation. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in sows having back-fat thickness <20 mm than that of sows with ≥20 mm back-fat thickness at 107 d of gestation. Group housed sows had greater (p<0.05) feed intake and shorter (p<0.05) weaning-to-estrus interval than that of sows in stalls. At weaning, back-fat thickness changes were lesser (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. The number of piglets at weaning, growth rate and average daily gain were greater (p<0.05) in group housed sows than that of sows in stalls. During gestation, walking duration was more (p<0.05) in group housed sows. Group housed sows had lesser (p<0.05) farrowing duration and greater (p<0.05) eating time than that of sows in stalls. Result obtained in present study indicated that sows with ≥20 mm back-fat thickness at 107 days had better reproductive performance. Additionally, group housing of sows during last five week of gestation improved the performance and behavior and reproductive efficiency of sows.

Bacteriophage cocktail and multi-strain probiotics in the feed for weanling pigs: effects on intestine morphology and targeted intestinal coliforms and Clostridium

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of bacteriophage cocktail, probiotics and a combination of these two supplements on performance and gut health of weanling pigs. In Experiment 1, 150 weaned piglets were randomly allotted to three treatments on the basis of BW. The dietary treatments included a basal diet supplemented with 0 (control), 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg bacteriophage cocktail. Pigs fed 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg bacteriophage product had greater (P<0.05) average daily gain (ADG), apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter from day 22 to 35, ileal Lactobacillus spp., villus height (duodenum and jejunum), and fewer coliforms (ileum) and Clostridium spp. (ileum). In Experiment 2, 200 weaned piglets were randomly allotted to four treatments. Dietary treatments included basal diet, basal diet supplemented with 3.0 g/kg fermented probiotic product (P), 1.0 g/kg bacteriophage cocktail (B) and combination of 1.0 g/kg bacteriophage cocktail and 3.0 g/kg fermented probiotic product. Pigs fed bacteriophage cocktail diets had greater (P<0.05) overall ADG, gain to feed ratio (G : F), fecal score from day 8 to day 21, and pigs fed bacteriophage cocktail diets had fewer coliforms (ileum) Clostridium spp. (ileum and cecum). Probiotics significantly increased G : F, colonization of Lactobacillus spp. in ileum. At day 35, bacteriophage treatment group showed greater (P<0.05) villus height of the duodenum, but a deeper crypt in duodenum. The present results indicate that the bacteriophage cocktail had a potential to enhance the performance and gut health of weanling pigs, however their combination with probiotics did not show an interaction.

Effects of mannan level and β-mannanase supplementation on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility and blood metabolites of growing pigs.

The exogenous enzymes are less consistent in their effects as their beneficial effects depend upon the types and level non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) present in the diets. Therefore, exogenous enzymes should be selected on the basis of types and amount of the NSP in the pig diets. The objectives of the present experiments were to investigate the effects of dietary level of mannan and β-mannanase supplementation on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nutrients, and blood metabolites of growing pigs. In Exp. 1, 96 barrows were randomly allotted to four treatments on the basis of BW. There were four replicates in each treatment with six pigs per replicate. The dietary treatments were a corn-soybean meal (SBM)-based control diet and three other diets consisted of the control diet supplemented with 400, 800 or 1600 U of β-mannanase/kg diet. The final BW, average daily gain (ADG) and blood glucose increased (linear, P0.05) on the concentrations of blood total cholesterol, triacylglycerides and blood urea nitrogen. These results indicate that supplementation of β-mannanase to low- or high-mannan diets have potential to improve the performance of growing pigs. In addition, palm kernel meal may partially replace corn and SBM without reducing pig performance if β-mannanase is added to diet.

Effects of dietary supplementation of bacteriophage with or without zinc oxide on the performance and gut development of weanling pigs

Abstract The present study investigates the effect of zinc oxide (ZN), bacteriophage (BAC) or their combination on the growth performance and gut development in weaning pigs. A total of 200 weaned pigs were allotted to four treatments including two levels (0 and 0.34%) of ZN and two levels (0 and 0.10%) of BAC cocktail. Supplementation of both BAC and ZN in the diet improved average daily gain and gain to feed ratio in all three phases. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter was consistently increased in BAC. A higher digestibility of dry matter was observed in ZN group at phase-I and II. The ATTD of crude protein was increased in BAC group at phase-I and III. ZN increased ATTD of crude protein during phase III. In all phases, the population of total anaerobic bacteria, Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., Clostridium spp. and coliforms were higher in BAC and ZN groups with the exception for coliforms in ZN at the end of experiment. The duodenum (p < 0.05) and jejunum (p < 0.01) villus heights were considerably increased in BAC group but the ileal villus height was not affected by the addition of BAC in the diet. Similar increase (p < 0.05) in the duodenal (p = 0.06) and jejunal (p < 0.01) villus heights were also observed in ZN supplemented groups. The overall faecal score was reduced (p < 0.01) by BAC and tended to decrease (p = 0.07) by ZN. Thus both ZN and BAC are useful for improving the performance and gut health in weaning pigs without any interactive effects.

Effects of Ecklonia cava as fucoidan-rich algae on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology and caecal microflora in weanling pigs

Objective In the present study, role of increasing levels of Ecklonia cava (seaweed) supplementation in diets was investigated on growth performance, coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients, serum immunoglobulins, cecal microflora and intestinal morphology of weanling pigs. Methods A total of 200 weaned pigs (Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc; initial body weight 7.08±0.15 kg) were randomly allotted to 4 treatments on the basis of body weight. There were 5 replicate pens in each treatment including 10 pigs of each. Treatments were divided by dietary Ecklonia cava supplementation levels (0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, or 0.15%) in growing-finishing diets. There were 2 diet formulation phases throughout the experiment. The pigs were offered the diets ad libitum for the entire period of experiment in meal form. Results The pigs fed with increasing dietary concentrations of Ecklonia cava had linear increase (p<0.05) in the overall average daily gain, however, there were no significant differences in gain to feed ratio, CTTAD of dry matter and crude protein at both phase I and phase II. Digestibility of gross energy was linearly improved (p<0.05) in phase II. At day 28, pigs fed Ecklonia cava had greater (linear, p<0.05) Lactobacillus spp., fewer Escherichia coli (E. coli) spp. (linear, p<0.05) and a tendency to have fewer cecal Clostridium spp. (p = 0.077). The total anaerobic bacteria were not affected with supplementation of Ecklonia cava in diets. Polynomial contrasts analysis revealed that villus height of the ileum exhibited a linear increase (p<0.05) in response with the increase in the level of dietary Ecklonia cava. However, villus height of duodenum and jejunum, crypt depth, villus height to crypt depth ratio of different segments of the intestine were not affected. Conclusion The results suggest that Ecklonia cava had beneficial effects on the growth performance, cecal microflora, and intestinal morphology of weanling pigs.

β-Mannanase Derived from Bacillus Subtilis WL-7 Improves the Performance of Commercial Laying Hens Fed Low or High Mannan-Based Diets

A trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary mannan level and β-mannanase supplementation on egg production performance, nutrient retention and blood metabolites of laying hens. Two hundred and forty Hy-Line Brown layers (52 wk-old) were randomly allotted to 6 treatments on the basis of laying performance. Each treatment had 8 replicates with 5 birds (40 birds per treatment). Laying hens were fed low or high mannan diets containing 0, 0.4 or 0.8 g β-mannanase/kg diet in a 2×3 factorial arrangement during 56 d feeding period. Laying hens fed diets supplemented with high β-mannanase level had greater (P<0.05) overall egg production, egg weight, egg mass, retention of gross energy, crude protein and mannan than hens fed the diets without β-mannanase. Laying hens fed diets without β-mannanase or supplemented with high β-mannanase level had greater (P<0.05) retention of dry matter than hens fed diets with low β-mannanase level. Moreover, laying hens fed high mannan diets had higher (P<0.05) feed intake and feed conversion ratio than that of hens fed low mannan diets. Furthermore, laying hens fed diets supplemented with a high level of β-mannanase had increased serum glucose (P<0.05) concentrations but these diets had no effect on total cholesterol, total protein or blood urea nitrogen. The results obtained in the present study indicate that a high mannan content in diets had adverse effect on the performance of laying hens and that dietary supplementation with β-mannanase has the potential to improve laying hen performance and nutrient retention.

Evaluation of high nutrient diets on litter performance of heat-stressed lactating sows

Objective The present study investigated the litter performance of multiparous sows fed 3% and 6% densified diets at farrowing to weaning during summer with mean maximum room temperature of 30.5°C. Methods A total of 60 crossbred multiparous sows were allotted to one of three treatments based on body weight according to a completely randomized design. Three different nutrient levels based on NRC were applied as standard diet (ST; metabolizable energy, 3,300 kcal/kg), high nutrient level 1 (HE1; ST+3% higher energy and 16.59% protein) and high nutrient level 2 (HE2; ST+6% higher energy and 17.04% protein). Results There was no variation in the body weight change. However, backfat thickness change tended to reduce in HE1 in comparison to ST treatment. Dietary treatments had no effects on feed intake, daily energy intake and weaning-to-estrus interval in lactating sows. Litter size, litter weight at weaning and average daily gain of piglets were significantly greater in sows in HE1 compared with ST, however, no difference was observed between HE2 and ST. Increasing the nutrient levels had no effects on the blood urea nitrogen, glucose, triglyceride, and creatinine at post-farrowing and weaning time. The concentration of follicle stimulating hormone, cortisol and insulin were not affected by dietary treatments either in post-farrowing or weaning time. The concentration of blood luteinizing hormone of sows in ST treatment was numerically less than sows in HE2 treatment at weaning. Milk and colostrum compositions such as protein, fat and lactose were not affected by the treatments. Conclusion An energy level of 3,400 kcal/kg (14.23 MJ/kg) with 166 g/kg crude protein is suggested as the optimal level of dietary nutrients for heat stressed lactating sows with significant beneficial effects on litter size.

The microbial pH-stable exogenous multienzyme improved growth performance and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs fed a corn–soybean-based diet

ABSTRACT The present study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of multienzyme preparation on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, and gut health of weaned pigs. A total of 240 weaned pigs (initial body weight: 7.3 ± 0.7 kg) were randomly allotted to five treatments on the basis of body weight. The dietary treatments included a corn–soybean meal (SBM)-based diet supplemented with 0 (control), 0.025, 0.050%, 0.075%, or 0.10% multienzyme preparation. The experimental diets were fed in a meal form for two phases (d 0–14, phase I and d 15–28, phase II). Increasing multienzyme supplementation linearly improved overall (d 0–28) average daily gain, gain:feed, and ATTD of dry matter, gross energy, and crude protein. At d 21, pigs fed dietary increasing levels of multienzyme preparation had linearly greater Lactobacillus spp. (ileum and caecum and faeces) and fewer Clostridium spp. (ileum and caecum) and Escherichia coli (ileum and faeces) populations. On d 28, villus height of the jejunum and ileum were linearly increased with dietary increase in multienzyme preparation. In conclusion, this multienzyme has potential to improve the growth performance, ATTD of nutrients, and gut health of weaned pigs fed a corn–SBM-based diet in the absence of antibiotics growth promoters.