Effect of Moringa oleifera supplementation on productive performance, colostrum composition and serum biochemical indexes of sow.

Moringa oleifera has been considered as a potential functional feed or food, since it contains multiple components beneficial to animal and human. However, little is known about the effects of Moringa oleifera supplementation on productive performances in sows. In the current study, the results showed that dietary Moringa oleifera significantly decreased the farrowing length and the number of stillborn (p < .05), while had an increasing trend in the number of live-born (0.05 < p < .10). Furthermore, 8% Moringa oleifera supplementation significantly elevated protein levels in the colostrum (p < .05); 4% Moringa oleifera lowed serum urea nitrogen of sows after 90 days of gestation (p < .05) and significantly decreased serum glucose on 10 days of lactation (p < .05). Both groups showed significant elevation in serum T-AOC activity (p < .05). The serum malondialdehyde (MDA) of sows declined significantly in 4% Moringa oleifera addition group (p < .05). 8% Moringa oleifera meal significantly elevated serum CAT activity after 60 days of gestation (p < .05), while decreased the serum MDA level and increased the serum GSH-Px activity of sows at 10 days of lactation (p < .05). Of piglets, both two dosages of Moringa oleifera supplementation essentially reduced the serum urea nitrogen (p < .05), and 4% Moringa oleifera meal increased serum total protein (p < .05). In addition, piglets that received 8% Moringa oleifera had the highest serum CAT and SOD activities among all groups (p < .05). The present study indicated that Moringa oleifera supplementation could enhance the reproduction performances, elevate protein levels in the colostrum and improve the serum antioxidant indices in both sows and piglets.

[Heterogenous expression and enzymatic property analysis of microbial-derived pectinases in pig PK15 cells].

As one of plant cell wall components, pectin is the main anti-nutritional factor in livestock and poultry feeds and has an adverse effect on utilization efficiency of feed energy and nitrogen. Pectinases, which are widely found in microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi in nature,can improve feed efficiency by relieving the anti-nutritional effect of pectin through promoting the hydrolysis reaction of feed pectin. To explore the feasibility of expressing microbial-derived pectinase genes in pig cells, we introduced microbial-derived pectinase genes pg5a, pgI, pga3A, and pgaA into porcine PK 15 cells by lipofection for heterogenous expression. Enzymatic activities of the pectinases encoded by these genes were analyzed using the 3,5 dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method. Results showed that all four pectinase genes were able to be transcribed into mRNAs in porcine PK 15 cells, but only pg5a and pgI were adapted to the porcine cell expression system. Among them, the maximum activity of pectinase PG5A was 0.95 U/mL, the optimum pH was pH 4.0, and the enzymatic activity was maintained above 46% in the range of pH 4.6 to 6.0. Pectinase PGI obtained the highest enzymatic activity at pH 5.0, which was 0.30 U/mL, and maintained more than 35% of the activity in the range of pH 4.0 to 6.0. The results of digestive protease tolerance test showed that PG5A and PGI were highly resistant to pepsin and trypsin. After treatment with 1 mg/mL pig pepsin for two hours, the residual enzymatic activities of PG5A and PGI were 76% and 71%, respectively. And after two hours treatment with 1 mg/mL of pig trypsin, the remaining enzymatic activities of PG5A and PGI were 44% and 93%, respectively. In summary, pectinase PG5A and PGI can be effectively expressed in pig cells, and have strong tolerance to pig intestinal pH environment and digestive proteases. Therefore, both pg5a and pgI can be used as candidate genes for production of transgenic pigs.