RESUMO
This study investigated the effects of lairage conditions on the welfare and meat quality of pigs during lairage periods. A total of 3070 finishing pigs were assigned to one of six groups arranged in two trials in a 2 × 3 factorial design according to the illuminance (under 40 lux (LX), over 40 lux (HX)) and stocking density (low density (LD), higher than 0.83 m2/100 kg; normal density (ND), 0.50-0.83 m2/100 kg; high density (HD), lower than 0.50 m2/100 kg) with high temperature (HT), higher than 24 °C; low temperature (LT), lower than 10 °C. Pigs stocked with HD showed lower aggression behavior and overlap behavior than those stocked with LD at LT. Pigs stocked with HD showed higher standing, sitting, and aggression behavior than those stocked with LD at HT. Pigs stocked with HD showed higher pH than those stocked with LD at LT. At HT, pigs stocked with LD showed higher pH, WHC, DL, and CL than those stocked with HD. At LT, pigs stocked with LD showed higher cortisol levels than those stocked with HD. However, pigs stocked with LD showed lower cortisol levels than those stocked with HD at HT. Based on the obtained results, stocking of too-high (lower than 0.50 m2/100 kg) density at HT and stocking of too-low (higher than 0.83 m2/100 kg) density at LT are generally not good for meat quality and animal welfare.
RESUMO
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementing different ratios of phytogenic feed additives (PFA) to weaned pigs challenged with pathogenic Escherichia coli on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal barrier integrity, and immune response, and to determine the optimal mixing ratio for post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) prevention. A total of 48 4-wk-old weaned pigs with initial body weight of 8.01 ± 0.39 kg were placed in individual metabolic cages, and then randomly assigned to eight treatment groups. The eight treatments were as follows: a basal diet without E. coli challenge (negative control, NC), a basal diet with E. coli challenge (positive control, PC), PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 20% bitter citrus extract (BCE), 10% microencapsulated blend of thymol and carvacrol (MEO), and 70% excipient (T1), PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 10% MEO, 20% premixture of grape seed and grape marc extract, green tea, and hops (PGE), and 60% excipient (T2), PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 10% BCE, 10% MEO, 10% PGE, and 70% excipient (T3), PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 20% BCE, 20% MEO, and 60% excipient (T4), PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 20% MEO, 20% PGE, and 60% excipient (T5), and PC with supplementing 0.1% mixture of 10% BCE, 20% MEO, 10% PGE, and 60% excipient (T6). The experiments progressed in 16 days, including 5 days before and 11 days after the first E. coli challenge (day 0). In the E. coli challenge treatments, all pigs were orally inoculated by dividing a total of 10 mL of E. coli F 18 for three consecutive days from day 0 postinoculation (PI). Compared with the PC group, the PFA2 and PFA6 groups significantly increased (P < 0.05) feed efficiency and decreased (P < 0.05) diarrhea during the entire period. At day 11 PI, the PFA6 group significantly improved (P < 0.05) gross energy digestibility compared to the PFA1 group. The PFA6 group significantly decreased (P < 0.05) tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 in serum and increased (P < 0.05) the villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH:CD). The PFA2 significantly decreased (P < 0.05) the relative protein expression of calprotectin in the ileum. In conclusion, improvements in growth performance, diarrhea reduction, and immunity enhancement are demonstrated when 10% BCE, 20% MEO, 10% PGE, and 60% excipient are mixed.
Phytogenic feed additives (PFA) include various herbs and spices, such as essential oils and polyphenols. Flavonoids and polyphenols contained in PFA are generally known to have antioxidant and antibacterial actions and based on this, PFA is considered an alternative to antibiotics in the swine industry. Pathogenic Escherichia coli infection is one of the most important causes of post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in pigs. PWD causes intestinal damage, which leads to severe diarrhea, reduced growth performance, and mortality in weaned pigs, resulting in significant financial loss to the swine industry. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementing different ratios of PFA to weaned pigs challenged with E. coli and determine the optimal mixing ratio for PWD prevention. Our study results showed that growth performance was improved when supplementing a mixture of 10% bitter citrus extract (BCE), 20% microencapsulated blend of thymol and carvacrol (MEO), 10% premixture of grape seed and grape marc extract, green tea, and hops (PGE), and 60% excipient. Also, the effect of improving the immune response and intestinal morphology was shown. In conclusion, a mixture of 10% BCE, 20% MEO, 10% PGE, and 60% excipients is considered the optimal mixing ratio.