Abstract
Weaning is a challenging period for piglets associated with reduced feed intake, impairment of gut integrity, and diarrhea. Previous studies demonstrate that supplementation with single functional amino acids promote piglets’ performance due to the improvement of intestinal health. Thus, we hypothesized that a combination of functional amino acids provided beyond the postulated requirement for growth could facilitate the weaning transition. Ninety piglets, initially stressed after weaning by 100 min overland transport, received a control diet or the same diet supplemented with a low-dosed (0.3 %) mixture of amino acids (AAB-1: L-arginine, L-leucine, L-valine, L-isoleucine, L-cystine; AAB-2: L-arginine, L-leucine, L-valine, L-isoleucine, L-cystine, L-tryptophan) for 28 days. Fecal consistency was ranked daily, growth performance was assessed weekly. On day 1 and 14 of the trial, blood samples were collected from a subset of 10 piglets per group to assess concentrations of insulin-like growth factor 1. After 28 days of feeding, tissues were obtained from the same piglets to analyze gut morphology and relative mRNA expression of genes related to gut function. Even if the stress response as indicated by rectal temperature was not different between the groups, pigs supplemented with AAB-2 showed firmer feces after weaning and less days with diarrhea compared to control. Furthermore, the jejunal expression of the MUC-2 gene was reduced (P < 0.05) in group AAB-2. Both amino acid mixtures increased crypt depth in the duodenum. Collectively, the given results indicate that 0.3 % extra amino acid supplementation might alleviate post-weaning diarrhea but did not alter growth performance of weanling piglets.
Effect of co-ingestion of amino acids with rice on glycaemic and insulinaemic response
