Effects of Biocom as a Replacement of Glutamine on Performance and Blood Biochemical Indexes of Early Weaned Piglets

R Y Zhou,Z L Liu,Z F Fang,J Peng

doi:10.5713/ajas.2006.872

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate Biocom (a protein source containing a high level of glutamine and alanyl- glutamine) as a replacement for glutamine (Gln) in nursery pig diets. Forty-two pigs (fourteen pigs per treatment) weaned at 28 d of age were used in a 28-d performance trial using three dietary treatments: control (no Gln), control supplemented with Gln or Biocom. The control diet was composed of corn, soybean meal, whey and fish meal. Individual body weight, pen feed disappearance and diarrhea were monitored. On d 0, 2, 7 and 14 postweaning, respectively, five pigs per treatment were selected and bled from the anterior vena cava to obtain five replicate samples of blood on each dietary treatment for determination of blood biochemical index. Dietary supplementation of Gln and Biocom did not influence performance, plasma Gln and total serum protein concentration (p>0.05). However, the addition of Gln and Biocom could prevent serum urea nitrogen and serum cortisol from increasing on d 2 postweaning (p 0.05) in any of the examined parameters between Gln- and Biocom-supplemented diets. In conclusion, dietary Gln did not influence the performance of early-weaned piglets owing to the complex diet containing whey, but could prevent the increase of serum urea and cortisol. Biocom could be used as a replacement for free pure Gln without any negative effect on early-weaned piglets. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2006. Vol 19, No. 6 : 872-876)

Highlights

Weaning, the transition from the ingestion of maternal milk to solid foods, often causes abnormalities in intestinal morphology
Wu et al (1996) reported that dietary Gln supplementation prevented jejunal atrophy during the first week postweaning and increased the gain:feed ratio by 25% during the second week postweaning in pigs weaned at 21 d of age
Liu et al (1999) reported that dietary Gln supplementation prevented jejunal atrophy and increased the weight gain during the first week postweaning in pigs weaned at 28 d of age

Summary

Introduction

The transition from the ingestion of maternal milk to solid foods, often causes abnormalities in intestinal morphology. One of the reasons is that weaning stops the supply of glutamine (Gln) from maternal milk (Pluske et al, 1997). Gln has important and unique metabolic functions, and is considered to be a conditionally essential amino acid in some species (Lacey and Wilmore, 1990; NRC, 1998). Gln is an abundant free amino acid in the plasma of animals (Souba, 1991) and in sow’s milk (Wu and Knable, 1994). Gln serves as an essential precursor for the synthesis of proteins, purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, NAD+ and aminosugars (Krebs, 1980). Gln is an important fuel source for enterocytes (Windmueller and Spaeth, 1980; Wu et al, 1995)

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion