Effect of supplementing varying inclusion levels of laminarin and fucoidan on growth performance, digestibility of diet components, selected faecal microbial populations and volatile fatty acid concentrations in weaned pigs
Introduction
The weaning transition is often associated with undesirable morphological and physiological changes in the piglet's gastrointestinal environment related to a reduced voluntary feed intake, which subsequently increase susceptibility to intestinal dysfunction (Pluske et al., 1997). Traditional measures to ameliorate weaning associated intestinal dysfunction have centred on dietary manipulations post-weaning (Pierce et al., 2005). Recent investigations have focussed on the exploitation of marine algae and the identification of novel bioactive compounds containing biological properties (Reilly et al., 2008, Lynch et al., 2010). Brown seaweeds contain polysaccharides resistant to hydrolysis by human endogenous enzymes and therefore are considered as dietary fibres (Devillé et al., 2007). Laminarin (LAM) and fucoidan (FUC) are the main water-soluble polysaccharides of brown algae (Michell et al., 1996). Laminarin is composed of (1,3)-β-d-glucan with β-(1,6) linked side chains of varying distribution and length (Brown and Gordon, 2001, Rioux et al., 2007). Laminarins have shown promising antibacterial activities in pigs (Lynch et al., 2010) and immunomodulating activities in rats (Rice et al., 2005). Fucoidan represents a group of sulphated polysaccharides extracted from the cell wall of various species of brown seaweeds (Berteau and Mulloy, 2003). Fucoidans have been demonstrated to possess numerous biological properties, including antiviral properties in vitro (Damonte et al., 2004), immunomodulatory activities in rats (Cumashi et al., 2007) and antibacterial activities in vitro (Shibata et al., 2003).
Gahan et al. (2009) showed that the inclusion of a seaweed extract containing LAM and FUC could replace the need for a high concentration of dietary lactose without adversely affecting pig performance in antibiotic-free diets. Recently, O’Doherty et al. (2010) demonstrated that the inclusion of a seaweed extract containin LAM and FUC (laminarin 112 g/kg, fucoidan 89 g/kg and ash 799 g/kg) increased average daily gain (ADG) and gain to feed (G:F) ratio of pigs post-weaning mainly through increasing nutrient digestibility and decreasing faecal Escherichia coli. Furthermore, McDonnell et al. (2010) showed that the inclusion of LAM in weaned pig diets improved feed efficiency and growth performance. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of varying dietary inclusion levels of purified LAM and FUC, independently or in combination on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, selected faecal microbial populations and volatile fatty acid concentrations in weaned pigs and to establish the optimum ratio of LAM and FUC required to promote growth performance. It is hypothesised that the inclusion of both LAM and FUC will improve pig performance post-weaning through modifying selected microbial populations and increased nutrient digestibility in the gastrointestinal tract.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
All procedures described in this experiment were conducted under experimental licence from the Irish Department of Health in accordance with the cruelty to Animals Act 1876 and the European Communities (Amendments of the Cruelty to Animals Act 1976) Regulations.
Growth performance
The effects of dietary LAM and FUC on ADG, average daily feed intake (ADFI) and G:F ratios are shown in Table 3. Pigs offered the 300 mg/kg LAM supplemented diets had a higher ADG during the entire experimental period (d 0–35) compared with pigs offered diets with 0 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg LAM supplementation (0.374 kg/d vs. 0.346 kg/d vs. 0.340 kg/d, SEM ± 0.0094; P < 0.05).
There was no effect of LAM or FUC inclusion on ADFI (P > 0.05) throughout the duration of the experiment. There was an interaction
Discussion
Recent studies have shown the benefits of using seaweed extracts containing both LAM and FUC in weaner pig diets on growth performance and feed efficiency (Gahan et al., 2009, O’Doherty et al., 2010). The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of varying dietary inclusion levels of purified LAM and FUC, independently or in combination on growth performance, the CTTAD of diet components, selected faecal microbial populations and VFA concentrations in weaned pigs. The diets used in
Conclusion
In summary, the inclusion of 300 mg/kg LAM showed the greatest benefit in growth performance with improvements in ADG and G:F ratio partially due to an increased CTTAD of diet components and lower faecal score. Despite the increase in the CTTAD of diet components and lower faecal score with the inclusion of 150 mg/kg LAM, there was no positive effect of the 150 mg/kg LAM on pig growth performance. The supplementation of FUC in the diet improved the G:F ratio of the weaned pigs from d 7 to 21,
Acknowledgements
Funding for this research was provided by the Innovation Partnership Programme (Enterprise Ireland) and BioAtlantis Ltd, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland.
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