Gastrointestinal morphophysiology and presence of kafirins in ileal digesta in growing pigs fed sorghum-based diets

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe evaluated the effects of three sorghum-based diets with different levels of tannins and kafirins on some gastrointestinal morphophysiological characteristics of growing pigs. We also evaluated the pigs’ performance and the presence of kafirin fractions in sorghum samples and in ileal digesta. We used 24 pigs that weighed 22.1 ± 0.65 kg randomly assigned to four different cereal–soybean meal diets: a corn-based (control diet; C), a low tannin and low kafirin sorghum-based (LTLK), a low tannin and high kafirin sorghum-based (LTHK), and a high tannin and high kafirin sorghum-based (HTHK). We evaluated the pH of the gastrointestinal digesta, the liver and pancreas weight, and the total and specific trypsin and chymotrypsin enzymatic activities in the pancreas, and the intestinal villi morphology. The results indicated that the different sorghum diets did not affect the performance of the pigs (P > .05) or the majority of the evaluated morphophysiological parameters. The total trypsin activity was higher in pigs fed the HTHK diet (P < .001). The highest intensity/area of the kafirin fractions was noted in ileal digesta from pigs fed LTHK and HTHK diets. The simultaneous presence of high levels of tannins and kafirins could affect the digestion of sorghum proteins.