Luan Sousa dos Santos

Effect of Glutamine, Glutamic Acid and Nucleotides on the Turnover of Carbon (δ(13)C) in Organs of Weaned Piglets.

Morphological and physiological alterations occur in the digestive system of weanling piglets, compromising the performance in subsequent phases. This experiment aimed at verifying the influence of glutamine, glutamate and nucleotides on the carbon turnover in the pancreas and liver of piglets weaned at 21 days of age. Four diets were evaluated: glutamine, glutamic acid or nucleotides-free diet (CD); containing 1% glutamine (GD); containing 1% glutamic acid (GAD) and containing 1% nucleotides (ND). One hundred and twenty-three piglets were utilized with three pigs slaughtered at day zero (weaning day) and three at each one of the experimental days (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 13, 20, 27, and 49 post-weaning), in order to collect organ samples, which were analyzed for the δ13C isotopic composition and compared by means of time. No differences were found (p>0.05) among treatments for the turnover of the 13C in the pancreas (T50% = 13.91, 14.37, 11.07, and 9.34 days; T95% = 46.22, 47.73, 36.79, and 31.04 days for CD, GD, GAD, and ND, respectively). In the liver, the ND presented accelerated values of carbon turnover (T50% = 7.36 and T95% = 24.47 days) in relation to the values obtained for the GD (T50% = 10.15 and T95% = 33.74 days). However, the values obtained for the CD (T50% = 9.12 and T95% = 30.31 days) and GAD (T50% = 7.83 and T95% = 26.03 days) had no differences (p>0.05) among other diets. The technique of 13C isotopic dilution demonstrated trophic action of nucleotides in the liver.

Precision feeding strategy for growing pigs under heat stress conditions1

This study evaluated the responses of individual daily precision (IPF) and conventional 2-phase (CON) feeding systems (FS) in terms of pig growth performance, nutrient balance, serum parameters, and meal patterns of growing pigs reared under thermoneutral (TN: 23 °C) and heat stress (high temperature [HT]: 30 °C) conditions. The animals in each treatment were assigned on the basis of equal BW to the experimental treatments (12 animals per treatment at 41.0 ± 4.87 kg of BW). The experiment lasted 55 d (phase 1 from days 0 to 27 and phase 2 from days 28 to 55). Pigs fed CON received within each phase a constant blend of diets with high and low nutrient density supplying the estimated nutrient requirements of the group, whereas the IPF pigs received daily a personalized blend providing the estimated amount of nutrients according to individual feed intake and body weight information. Body mineral content, and lean and fat masses were assessed through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the beginning and end of each phase. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed-effect model, with fixed effects of the FS, temperature (AT), and the 2-way interaction between FS and AT and random effects of blocks. In relation to CON pigs, IPF pigs reduced (P < 0.05) Lys (19%), protein (16%), and P (14%) intake without impairing (P > 0.05) body composition. Nitrogen excretion was 24% lower (P < 0.05) in IPF pigs than in CON pigs; however, both groups had similar N retention efficiency thoroughly the trial. Amount of time feeding, feed intake rate, and feed intake per meal were 15% lower (P < 0.05) in pigs raised under HT than under TN conditions. During the phase 2, only amount of time feeding, feed intake rate, and feed intake per meal were decreased (P < 0.05) in pigs under HT conditions during nocturnal (2000 to 0500 h) and diurnal (0501 to 1959 h) periods. Haptoglobin levels were affected by the AT, showing an increase of 70% and 43% in HT at 28 and 55 d of the experiment, respectively. Pigs raised under HT conditions had 10% lower (P < 0.05) serum albumin concentration at day 55 than those under TN conditions. For serum urea concentrations, IPF pigs had 28% lower (P < 0.01) levels than CON pigs. Even though HT conditions considerably reduced growth performance and activated inflammatory responses in growing pigs, IPF was not able to rescue performance during HT; however, it was equally effective at improving nutrient utilization and maintaining body composition in HT and TN conditions.