Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the effect of dietary supplementation with low dose of porous and nano zinc oxide (ZnO) on weaning piglets, and to evaluate the possibility of using them as an alternative to high dose of regular ZnO. Piglets were randomly allocated into four treatment groups fed with four diets: (1) basal diet (NC), (2) NC+ 3000 mg/kg ZnO (PC), (3) NC + 500 mg/kg porous ZnO (HiZ) and (4) NC + 500 mg/kg nano ZnO (ZNP). The result showed that piglets in HiZ group had less diarrhea than ZNP group (P < 0.05). Besides, there was no significant difference between PC, HiZ and ZNP groups in terms of serum malondialdeyhde (MDA) concentration and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity (P > 0.05). Analysis of trace metal elements revealed that piglets fed with high dose of regular ZnO had the highest Zn level in kidney (P < 0.05), which may induce kidney stone formation. Additionally, a decrease in ileal crypt depth was observed in PC, HiZ and ZNP group, suggesting an effective protection against intestinal injury. Results of mRNA analysis in intestine showed that ZNP supplementation had better effects on up-regulated trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) levels in duodenum and jejunum than HiZ did (P < 0.05), implying that nano ZnO may possess higher anti-inflammatory capacity than porous ZnO. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with low dose of porous and nano ZnO had similar (even better) effect on improving growth performance and intestinal morphology, reducing diarrhea and intestinal inflammatory as high dose of regular ZnO in weaning piglets. Compared with nano ZnO, porous ZnO had better performance on reducing diarrhea but less effect on up-regulation of intestinal TFF3 and Nrf2.
Highlights
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a multifunctional material because of its diverse properties [1]
HiZ group had less diarrhea compared with ZnO nanoparticles (ZNP) group (P > 0.05)
We found that dietary ZnO (PC, HiZ and ZNP group) significantly decreased the MDA level in serum compared with negative control (NC) group, suggesting that both high dose of regular ZnO and low dose of porous and nano ZnO are able to reduce lipid peroxidation effectively
Summary
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a multifunctional material because of its diverse properties [1]. It plays an important role in a very wide range of applications, ranging from ceramics to tyres [2], from pharmaceuticals to agriculture [3, 4], and from chemicals to dye[5, 6]. The characteristic of ZnO in diarrhea prevention has drawn a great attention. In 1980s, it was found that feeding with pharmacological concentrations of ZnO (2000 to 4000 mg/kg) can reduce diarrhea and increase growth rates in weanling piglets [15]. As the antimicrobial growth promoters being banned in many countries, dietary high dose of ZnO have drawn a great concerns from researchers and farm workers [16,17,18]
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