Response of weaned piglets to a challenge with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) when fed diets with pea or pea fractions

Abstract

The effects of using pea and various fractions of pea on the consequences of an oral challenge with an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) were evaluated in post weaning piglets. The experiment comprised six treatment groups each consisting of 12 individually housed weaned piglets. Each group received one of the following diets: 1) and 2) basal diet, 3) diet with 250 g/kg pea; 4) diet with 150 g/kg native pea starch; 5) diet with 100 g/kg pea fibre, and 6) diet with 100 g/kg pea hulls. The experimental diets were fed ad libitum (day 0–22). At day 7 the piglets of group 1 were inoculated with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and groups 2 to 6 were inoculated orally with an ETEC suspension. The piglets were sacrificed on day 22 for obtaining intestinal digesta. Feed intake and body weight gain were not affected by the treatments, except for a lower feed intake for the pea fibre diet in the first period after the challenge. After the ETEC challenge on day 7, faecal consistency scores increased in all groups, and were higher for the group receiving the diet with pea fibre than for the groups receiving the diet with pea starch or the basal diet ( P < 0.05). Only in the first three days after the challenge the number of ETEC in the faeces was lower ( P < 0.05) for the groups fed the basal and the pea hull diet than for the groups receiving the pea and the pea fibre diet. It can be concluded that inclusion of peas and pea fractions in diets for weaned piglets does neither positively nor negatively affect performance and gut health under challenged conditions.