• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권10호
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• pp.1461-1476
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• 2009

This review focuses on the metabolic and osmoregulatory functions of betaine and its impact on nutrient digestibility and performance in pigs and poultry. Betaine is the trimethyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, and is present in plant and animal tissue. It has been shown to play an important role in osmoregulation of plants, bacteria and marine organisms. Due to its chemical structure, betaine exerts a number of functions both at the gastrointestinal and metabolic level. As a methyl group donor, betaine is involved in transmethylation reactions and donates its labile methyl group for the synthesis of several metabolically active substances such as creatine and carnitine. Therefore, supplementation of betaine may reduce the requirement for other methyl group donors such as methionine and choline. Beneficial effects on intestinal cells and intestinal microbes have been reported following betaine supplementation to diets for pigs and poultry, which have been attributed to the osmotic properties of betaine. Furthermore, betaine potentially enhances the digestibility of specific nutrients, in particular fiber and minerals. Moreover, at the metabolic level, betaine is involved in protein and energy metabolism. Growth trials revealed positive effects of supplemental betaine on growth performance in pigs and poultry, and there is evidence that betaine acts as a carcass modifier by reducing the carcass fat content. In conclusion, due to its various metabolic and osmoregulatory functions, betaine plays an important role in the nutrition of monogastric animals.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.916-926
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• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of medium chain triglycerides (MCT) with organic acids (OA) on growth performance, fecal score, blood profiles, intestinal morphology, and nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs. Methods: A total of 120 weaning pigs ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of 8.00±0.87 kg were assigned in five treatments considering sex and initial BW in 3 replications with 8 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design. The experimental diets included a corn-soybean meal based basal diet with or without 0.1% or 0.2% MCT and 0.1% OA. The pigs were fed the diets for 5 weeks (phase 1, 0 to 2 weeks; phase 2, 3 to 5 weeks). A total of 15 barrows with an average BW of 12.48±0.37 kg were used to evaluate the nutrient digestibility by total collection method. The BW and feed intake were measured at the end of each phase. Blood samples and small intestine samples were collected at the end of each phase, too. Results: Supplementing 0.1% MCT with 0.1% OA showed greater BW for week 5 and average daily gain (ADG) for overall period than control diet. Supplementing 0.1% MCT increased (p<0.05) ADG and improved (p<0.05) gain:feed ratio for phase 1. Dietary MCT and OA did not affect the fecal score and blood concentration of cortisol, immunoglobulin G, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and IL-10 in weaning pigs. Pigs fed the diets with 0.1% MCT had greater (p<0.05) villus height of duodenum and ileum for phase 1. Also, pigs fed the diet with 0.1% OA showed greater (p<0.05) villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio of duodenum for phase 2. There was no significant difference in nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention of pigs. Conclusion: Addition of 0.1% MCT with 0.1% OA in weaning pig's diet improved growth performance partly by enhancing intestinal morphology in weaning pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권8호
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• pp.1181-1188
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• 2013

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementing a corn-soybean meal-based diet with an enzyme complex containing amylase, protease and xylanase on the performance, intestinal health, apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids and nutrient digestibility of weaned pigs. In Exp. 1, 108 piglets weaned at 28 d of age were fed one of three diets containing 0 (control), 100, or 150 ppm enzyme complex for 4 wks, based on a two-phase feeding program namely 1 to 7 d (phase 1) and 8 to 28 d (phase 2). At the end of the experiment, six pigs from the control group and the group supplemented with 150 ppm enzyme complex were chosen to collect digesta samples from intestine to measure viscosity and pH in the stomach, ileum, and cecum, as well as volatile fatty acid concentrations and composition of the microflora in the cecum and colon. There were linear increases (p<0.01) in weight gain, gain: feed ratio and digestibility of gross energy with the increasing dose rate of enzyme supplementation during the whole experiment. Supplementation with enzyme complex increased the digesta viscosity in the stomach (p<0.05) and significantly increased (p<0.01) the concentrations of acetic, propionic and butyric acid in the cecum and colon. Enzyme supplementation also significantly increased the population of Lactobacilli (p<0.01) in the cecum and decreased the population of E. coli (p<0.05) in the colon. In Exp. 2, six crossbred barrows (initial body weight: $18.26{\pm}1.21$ kg), fitted with a simple T-cannula at the distal ileum, were assigned to three dietary treatments according to a replicated $3{\times}3$ Latin Square design. The experimental diets were the same as the diets used in phase 2 in Exp. 1. Apparent ileal digestibility of isoleucine (p<0.01), valine (p<0.05) and aspartic acid (p<0.05) linearly increased with the increasing dose rate of enzyme supplementation. In conclusion, supplementation of the diet with an enzyme complex containing amylase, protease and xylanase improved piglet performance. This is likely a result of improvement in nutrient digestibility, volatile fatty acid concentrations and bacteria ratio in the large intestine.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제64권1호
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• pp.84-96
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• 2022

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of calcium-enriched fatty acid supplementation on the growth performance, blood metabolites, intestinal morphology, carcass traits, and nutrient digestibility of broilers subjected to chronic heat stress. A total of 210 one-day-old broiler chicks (40.12 ± 0.25 g) were randomly allocated to one of five dietary treatments, to obtain six replicates per treatment. Broilers were subjected to chronic heat stress from day 21 to day 35, post-hatching, at 34℃ for 9 h per day. The body weight (BW) and feed intake of the experimental broilers were recorded weekly, and the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated accordingly. Rectal temperature was measured to compare the basal body temperatures between individuals, and blood samples were collected on days 21 and 35 to evaluate basal body temperature, serum total cholesterol, and the triglyceride content of the broilers. On days 21 and 35, one broiler from each cage (n=6) was euthanized to measure carcass trait parameters, nutrient digestibility in digesta, and intestinal morphology. On days 14, 28, and 35, the broilers fed 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acids had higher BW (p < 0.05) than those fed the other diets. However, no differences (p > 0.05) were found in the average daily feed intake (ADFI) between dietary treatments over the 35 experimental days. On the other hand, on day 21, post-hatching, the broilers fed the 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acid diet had improved (p < 0.05) dietary feed efficiencies compared to the other treatments. On day 28, the broilers fed the 5.0% of calcium-enriched fatty acid diet also had higher (p < 0.05) dietary feed efficiencies than those fed with the other dietary treatments. No effects (p > 0.05) on carcass weight, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, or blood parameters were found between broilers fed with dietary treatments. This study demonstrated that the inclusion of an additive, containing 2.0% calcium-enriched fatty acid, to broiler diet could ameliorate the negative growth performance of broilers; and no interaction (p > 0.05) was observed between the calcium-enriched fatty acid and nutrient digestibility, digestive anatomy, blood metabolism, and carcass traits of broilers subjected to chronic heat stress conditions for 35 days post-hatching.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제18권11호
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• pp.1569-1574
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• 2005

The in situ nylon bag degradation and in vitro intestinal digestibility of dry matter (DM), and crude protein (CP) of mulberry (Morus alba) plant fractions was studied at four harvest stages, 3 (W3), 5 (W5), 7 (W7) and 9 (W9) weeks. Degradability of DM and CP of the whole plant and stem fractions declined significantly (p<0.01) with advancing plant maturity in the order W3>W5 and W7>W9 and W3>W5>W7>W9, respectively. The degradation of DM and CP of the leaf fraction was also influenced by plant maturity but no trend was observed. The degradation of DM and CP of the whole plant and leaves increased rapidly during the first 48 and 24 h of incubation, respectively, when maximum degradation was reached. In vitro intestinal digestibility of CP was more influenced by the residence time in the rumen than by plant maturity. This study showed that mulberry is suitable as a supplement, particularly to low-quality roughages, in providing a source of rapidly available nitrogen to the rumen microbes, hence improving the roughage degradability and intake.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권10호
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• pp.1540-1547
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• 2019

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of tannins and cellulase on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, intestinal morphology, and carcass characteristics in Hu sheep. Methods: A total of 48 three-month-old meat Hu sheep ($25.05{\pm}0.9kg$) were blocked based on body weight, and randomly allotted to 4 treatments with 3 replicates of 4 sheep each. The experiment lasted for 80 d, and dietary treatments were as follows: i) CON, control diet; ii) TAN, CON+0.1% tannins; iii) CEL, CON+0.1% cellulase; iv) TAN+CEL, CON+0.1% tannins and 0.1% cellulase. Results: Compared with CON, CEL, and TAN+CEL had greater (p<0.05) final body weight (FBW) and average daily gain but lower (p<0.05) feed conversion ratio, while FBW of TAN+CEL was lower (p<0.05) than that of CEL. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter in TAN, CEL, and TAN+CEL groups were higher (p<0.05) than that in CON. CEL and TAN+CEL groups had greater (p<0.05) ATTD of crude fiber compared with TAN and CON, while TAN group had lower (p<0.05) ATTD of crude protein than other treatments. TAN, CEL, and TAN+CEL groups increased (p<0.05) serum globulin and alkaline phosphatase but decreased (p<0.05) albumin/globulin. Serum total protein was greatest for TAN+CEL, intermediate for TAN and CEL and least for CON (p<0.05). TAN+CEL group increased (p<0.05) dressing percentage compared with CON, while the backfat thickness of CEL was lower (p<0.05) than that of CON. The villus height of jejunum and ileum in CEL and TAN+CEL groups were greater (p<0.05) than that in CON, and the crypt depth and villus height: crypt depth of jejunum were increased (p<0.05) in TAN, CEL, and TAN+CEL groups. Conclusion: The addition of tannins and cellulase together promoted nutrient digestion, liver protein synthesis and intestinal development and thus improved growth performance and carcass characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.267-274
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• 2009

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the feeding value of wood vinegar in weanling pigs. In Experiment 1, weanling pigs (n = 224; Landrace ${\times}$Yorkshire ${\times}$Duroc, 21${\pm}$3 d-old, initial BW 6.12${\pm}$0.10 kg) were assigned to four dietary treatments. Different levels of wood vinegar were added to the diets as dietary treatments (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%). Each treatment comprised 4 replicates with 14 piglets in each. Experimental feeding was conducted for 28 d in two phases (phase I, d 0 to 14 and phase II, d 15 to 28). Feeding of wood vinegar linearly (p<0.05) improved the phase I, phase II and overall ADG and increased (linear, p<0.05) the overall and phase II ADFI. Linear improvements in the apparent fecal digestibility of dry matter (p = 0.013), gross energy (p = 0.019) and crude protein (p = 0.033) were observed as the level of wood vinegar was increased in the diet of pigs. Experiment 2 was conducted to compare dietary wood vinegar with commonly used growth promoters, organic acid (mixture of 21% phosphoric acid, 3.25% propionic acid, 2.8% formic acid, 10% calcium formate and 5% calcium propionate) and antibiotic (aparamycin). A total of 288 weanling piglets (Landrace ${\times}$Yorkshire ${\times}$Duroc, 22${\pm}$2 d-old, initial BW 6.62${\pm}$0.31 kg) were assigned to four treatments with four replicates (18 piglets/pen) for 28 days and fed in 2 phases: phase I, d 0 to 14 and phase II, d 15 to 28. The dietary treatments were control (corn-soybean meal basal diet without antibiotics) and diets containing 0.2% antibiotic, 0.2% organic acid and 0.2% wood vinegar. Pigs fed antibiotic showed higher (p<0.001) ADG and better feed efficiency followed by pigs fed wood vinegar and organic acid diets while those fed the control diet had lowest ADG and poorest feed efficiency. The overall and phase I ADFI was highest (p<0.001) in pigs fed wood vinegar and lowest in pigs fed the control diet. Apparent fecal digestibility of dry matter, gross energy and crude protein was significantly higher (p<0.05) in pigs fed the antibiotic diet when compared with pigs fed the control but comparable among pigs fed antibiotic, organic acid and wood vinegar diets. Higher populations of Lactobacillus (p = 0.004) were noted in the ileum of pigs fed the wood vinegar diet, while the population of coliforms in the ileum and cecum was higher (p<0.001) in pigs fed the control diet when compared with pigs fed antibiotic, organic acid or wood vinegar diets. These results indicated that wood vinegar could improve the performance of weanling pigs by improving the nutrient digestibility and reducing harmful intestinal coliforms; moreover performance of pigs fed wood vinegar was superior to those fed organic acid.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제20권11호
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• pp.1738-1745
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• 2007

A growth trial and a digestibility trial were conducted to examine the effect of feed particle size on the performance, nutrient digestibility, gastric ulceration and intestinal morphology in pigs fed barley-based diets. Barley was processed through a hammer mill to achieve four diets varying in particle size (average particle $size{\pm}standard $deviation): coarse ($1,100{\pm}2.19\;{\mu}m$), medium ($785{\pm}2.23\;{\mu}m$), fine ($434{\pm}1.70\;{\mu}m$) and mixed (1/3 of coarse, medium and fine) ($789{\pm}2.45\;{\mu}m$). Sixty-four entire male pigs were used in the growth trial and the diets were fed ad libitum between 31 kg and 87 kg live weight. Following slaughter, stomach and ileal tissues were scored for integrity (ulceration or damage) and histological measurements taken. Twenty-four entire male pigs were used in the digestibility trial, which involved total faecal collection. Over the entire growth phase, there were no differences (p>0.05) in average daily gain and feed conversion ratio between pigs fed diets of different particle size. Pigs fed the coarse and medium diets had lower (p<0.05) stomach ulceration scores (0.20 and 0.25, respectively, on a scale from 0 to 3) than those fed the mixed (0.69) or the fine diets (1.87). The stomachs of all animals fed the fine diet had lesions and stomach ulcerations were present only in this group. Pigs fed the fine diet had thicker (p<0.001) ileal epithelial cell layer with no differences (p>0.05) being observed for villous height or crypt depth. Faecal digestibility coefficients of neutral and acid detergent fibre were the highest (p<0.05) for the mixed diet, intermediate for the fine and coarse diets and the lowest for the medium diet. A similar numerical trend (p = 0.103) was observed for the apparent faecal energy digestibility coefficient. It is concluded that, with barley based diets, a variation in average particle size between $400{\mu}m$ and $1,100{\mu}m$ had no effect on pig performance but the fine dietary particle size affected the integrity of the stomach, as well as the structure of the small intestine, thus compromising overall gut health. Our data also demonstrate that changes in particle size distribution during the digestion process, rather than average particle size or particle size variation, are related to apparent faecal digestibility.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권9호
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• pp.1320-1328
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• 2013

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the ME value, standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) of fish meal, and the effects of single cell protein (Prosin and Protide) replacing fish meal in diet on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal morphology in weaned piglets. In Exp. 1, twenty-four barrows with initial BW of $30.8{\times}2.6kg$ were allotted to one of four dietary treatments. Diet 1 contained corn as the only energy source. The other three diets replaced 20% of the corn in diet 1 with one of the three protein feeds (fish meal, Prosin and Protide), and the DE and ME contents were determined by difference. In Exp. 2, eight barrows (initial BW of $25.6{\pm}3.2kg$) were fitted with ileal T-cannulas and allotted to a replicated $4{\times}4$ Latin square design. Three cornstarch-based diets were formulated using each of the protein feeds as the sole source of AA. A nitrogen-free diet was also formulated to measure endogenous losses of AA. In Exp. 3, one hundred and eighty piglets (initial BW of $7.95{\pm}1.59kg$) weaned at $28{\times}2d$ were blocked by weight and assigned to one of five treatments for a 28-d growth performance study, each treatment was fed to six pens with six pigs (three barrows and three gilts) per pen. The five treatments consisted of the control group (CON), which was a corn-soybean meal diet containing 5% fish meal, and the other four treatments, which replaced a set amount of fish meal with either Prosin (2.5% or 5%) or Protide (2.5% or 5%). The diets were formulated to provide same nutrient levels. The results showed that on a DM basis, both of the DE and ME contents were lower in Prosin and Protide than that of fish meal (p<0.05). The SID of CP and all essential AA were greater in fish meal than in Prosin and Protide (p<0.05). The pigs fed CON diet had greater weight gain and lower feed conversion rate (FCR) than pigs fed 5% Prosin and 5% Protide diets (p<0.05). The digestibility of CP was greater in pigs fed CON, 2.5% Prosin and 2.5% Protide diets than the pigs fed 5% Prosin and 5% Protide diets (p<0.05). Villus height in jejunum and ileum, and villus height to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum were higher (p<0.05) in pigs fed CON, 2.5% Prosin and 2.5% Protide diets compared with the 5% Prosin and 5% Protide diets. Pigs fed CON diet had greater villus height to crypt depth ratio in the ileum than the pigs fed 5% Prosin and 5% Protide diets (p<0.05). In conclusion, although Prosin and Protide contained lower ME content and SID of AA than fish meal, Prosin and Protide replacing 50% of fish meal in diet with identical nutrient levels could obtain similar performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal morphology in weaned pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.399-404
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• 2007

To elucidate the efficacy of different levels of microbial-fermented soy proteins (FSP) on piglet performance, a total of 240 weaned piglets ($L{\times}Y{\times}D$, $22{\pm}3$ d of age, $5.16{\pm}0.07$ kg initial BW) were allotted to 4 treatment diets comprising control, FSP-3%, FSP-6% and FSP-9%. The fermented soybean product named $Pepsoygen^{(R)}$ was utilized for the study. There were 15 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. The control diet contained 15% soybean meal (SBM), and SBM for the treatment diets was replaced at 3, 6 and 9% with FSP, respectively. Experimental diets were fed from 0 to 14 d (phase-I) after weaning and then a common commercial diet was fed from 15 to 35 d (phase-II). There was a linear (p<0.05) increase in ADG and ADFI at both phases of measurement. The feed to gain ratio was also improved, showing a linear (p<0.01) trend as the level of supplementation increased. Except for phosphorus, the digestibility of all other nutrients was improved linearly (p<0.05) in the FSP added diets. However, villous height and crypt depth were not affected by dietary treatments. No special effect on intestinal morphology was noticed between FSP-added and control diets. In conclusion, the growth, digestibility of nutrients and morphological changes in weaned pigs fed FSP showed improved performance at higher levels of supplementation.