Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the supplementation of L-glutamine + glutamic acid and/or L-arginine on the productive performance, incidence of diarrhea, intestinal morphological of weaned piglets. Sixty-four 28-day-old weaned piglets were distributed in four treatments: DC - control diet; DG - glutamine diet (1% L-glutamine + glutamic acid); DA - arginine diet (1% L-arginine); and DGA - glutamine + arginine diet (0.5% L-glutamine + glutamic acid and 0.5% L-arginine) with eight replicates and two animals per experimental unit. The addition of 1% L-arginine to the piglet diet improved weight gain and feed conversion over 28 to 35 days of age. In the period of 28 to 49 days of age, supplementation with 1% L-glutamine + glutamic acid increased the animals' weight gain and reduced the incidence of diarrhea. Supplementation with amino acids in combination had a positive effect on the morphometric parameters of the intestinal mucosa compared to the control diet. Supplementation with 1% L-glutamine + glutamic acid increased the number of anti-PCNA+ cells and goblet cells. Taken together, our findings suggest that supplementation with L-glutamine + glutamic acid and L-arginine can improve the productive performance and enhance the integrity of the intestinal mucosa of weaned piglets.
Highlights
IntroductionThe maintenance of intestinal health is important to minimize or prevent low performance, morbidity and susceptibility to enteric infections in early-weaned piglets since the functional development of the gastrointestinal tract which includes the development of enterocytes, mucosa, microbiota and the intestinal immune system is directly related to the performance of the animals (Liu et al 2020)
This study aimed to evaluate the supplementation of L-glutamine + glutamic acid and/or L-arginine on the productive performance, incidence of diarrhea, intestinal morphological of weaned piglets
Our findings suggest that supplementation with L-glutamine + glutamic acid and L-arginine can improve the productive performance and enhance the integrity of the intestinal mucosa of weaned piglets
Summary
The maintenance of intestinal health is important to minimize or prevent low performance, morbidity and susceptibility to enteric infections in early-weaned piglets since the functional development of the gastrointestinal tract which includes the development of enterocytes, mucosa, microbiota and the intestinal immune system is directly related to the performance of the animals (Liu et al 2020). L-glutamine and glutamic acid, when present in the intestinal lumen of the animals, directly promote the differentiation of enterocytes since they increase the production of polyamines through the expression of the ornithine decarboxylase gene, favoring the proliferation and the maturation of the cells of the gastrointestinal tract (Duttlinger et al 2020, Mou et al 2019). L-arginine deficiency can lead to a low synthesis of citrulline and ornithine, which can delay animal growth and decrease the proliferation of enteric cells (Wu et al 2007) In this context, it is necessary to assess the (combined or individual) actions of these two conditionally essential amino acids that have trophic effects to maintain the integrity and intestinal development of animals after weaning, which is considered a critical stage in pig production
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