Supplementation of diets for piglets with L-Arginine and powdered whole milk

J.H.V. Da Silva,J.M.M. Batista,R.R. Guerra,J.L.S. De Almeida,L.A.F. Pascoal,T.D.D. Martins,J.M.S. Almeida,F.A.M. Bem

doi:10.4314/sajas.v50i6.13

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the supplementation of L-Arginine in diets with and without dairy products for piglets weaned at 21 days old. Thirty-two animals with initial mean weight of 5.16 ± 1.92 kg and from the same commercial lineage were allocated in a randomized block design to four diets. The experimental diets consisted of a corn and soybean meal-based diet (NDD), the same diet supplemented with 0.6% L-Arginine (NDDA), the diet supplemented with powdered whole milk (DD), and the diet supplemented with powdered whole milk and 0.6% of L-Arginine (DDA). At 43 days old, 16 animals were slaughtered. The productive performance, incidence of diarrhoea, serum parameters, relative organ weight, morphometry and intestinal health were evaluated. Supplementation with 0.6% of L-Arginine increased (P <0.05) the daily and final weight gain of the piglets at 32 days old and reduced the incidence of diarrhoea. DDA promoted a higher villi to crypt ratio (P <0.05). There was a lower rate of mitosis and apoptosis in the jejunum of animals fed DD and DDA. The non-dairy diet supplemented with 0.6% arginine (NDDA) increased serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations compared with NDD (P <0.05). Thus, supplementation with 0.6% L-Arginine increased immunological activity, improved intestinal integrity, and reduced the incidence of diarrhoea.

Highlights

Piglet performance in the weaning phase is critical to success in the later stages of rearing
NDD: corn-soy-based diet, non-dairy diet supplemented with 0.6% arginine (NDDA): corn-soy-based diet supplemented with 0.6% L-Arginine, DD: corn-soy-based diet supplemented with powdered whole milk, DDA: corn-soy-based diet supplemented with powdered whole milk and 0.6% of L-Arginine 1Iodine: 140 μg, selenium: 300 μg, manganese: 10 mg, zinc: 100 mg, copper: 10 mg, iron: 99 mg 2 Vitamin A: 4,000 IU, vitamin D3: 220 IU, vitamin E: 22 mg, vitamin K: 0.5 mg, vitamin B2: 3.75 mg, vitamin B12: 20 mg, calcium pantothenate: 12 mg, niacin: 20 mg, choline: 400 mg Villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), villus to crypt ratio (VH/CD), mucosal thickness, villus width, and goblet cell index were evaluated (Moreira Filho et al, 2015)
NDD: corn-soy-based diet, NDDA: corn-soy-based diet supplemented with 0.6% L-Arginine, DD: corn-soy-based diet supplemented with powdered whole milk, DDA: corn-soy-based diet supplemented with powdered whole milk and 0.6% of L-Arginine a,b Within a row, means with a common superscript were not different with probability P =0.05

Summary

Introduction

Piglet performance in the weaning phase is critical to success in the later stages of rearing. Antibiotics were used widely as a feed additive in diets for piglets to prevent digestive disorders and to increase feed efficiency. The increased scale of production in pig farms and global pressure to restrict the use of antimicrobials were major obstacles to maintaining the intestinal health of piglets, which affects their performance in the nursery Phase (Yi et al, 2018). Given this scenario, alternative feedstuffs have been used in animal feeds in place of antibiotics

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