Effect of dietary different energy sources on the growth performance, amino acid profile, blood profile, intestinal morphology and digestive enzyme in weaned piglets

Abstract

The low feed intake immediately after weaning is responsible for insufficient energy supply in weaned piglets. We investigated the effects of different dietary energy source on growth performance, serum amino acid profiles, biochemical parameters and immunoglobulin level, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal morphology and enzyme activity in weaned piglets. Forty‐two 21‐day‐old weaned piglets were randomly assigned to one of three treatments. They were fed isocaloric diets supplemented with three energy sources (glucose, soy oil, and glutamine) with two phases (14 and 28 d). Compared with glutamine group, piglets in the glucose and soy oil groups had greater (P < 0.05) average daily gain, average daily feed intake and gain:feed ratio from d 0 to 14, and gain:feed ratio for the overall period. Pigs fed with glutamine had greater (P < 0.05) serum glucose and creatinine on d 14 and high‐density lipoprotein on d 28, compared with pigs in the other two groups. The blood urea nitrogen of pigs was lower (P < 0.05) in soy oil group than in glucose and glutamine groups on d 28. Supplementation of glutamine or soy oil increased (P < 0.05) serum IgA on d 28, while supplementation of glutamine increased (P < 0.05) IgG and IgM on d 14 and 28. No differences were observed in serum amino acids among 3 treatments on d 14, except glycine and tyrosine. The serum concentrations of histidine, serine, threonine, proline, and cysteine in glutamine group was highest (P < 0.05), while the content of glycine and lysine in soy oil group was highest (P < 0.05) in three groups on d 28. Using glucose or soy oil as energy source increased (P < 0.05) serum total superoxide dismutase (T‐SOD) on d 14 and 28, but decreased (P < 0.05) serum malondialdehyde on d 28 compared with glutamine. On d 14, T‐SOD concentration and total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC) in the duodenum and ileum of pigs supplemented with glutamine were higher (P < 0.05) than those in soy oil group; however, the concentration of T‐AOC in jejunum was lowest (P < 0.05) in the glutamine group on d 14 and 28. Results from the present experiment indicated that weaned pigs supplemented with glucose or soy oil have better growth performance likely due to their enhanced feed intake and better systemic antioxidant capacity, whereas glutamine supplements may increase immunity and intestinal oxidative capacity by modulating nutrition metabolism.Support or Funding InformationThe present study was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31572420; 31330075)This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.