An experiment (3 3 4 factorial arrangement) was conducted to investigate the interaction between different levels of lactose (60 v. 150 v. 250 g/kg) and seaweed extract (0 v. 1 v. 2 v. 4 g/kg) containing both laminarin and fucoidan derived from Laminaria spp. on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of weanling pigs. In all, 384 piglets (24 days of age, 7.5 kg (s.d. 1 kg) live weight) were blocked on the basis of live weight and were assigned to one of 12 dietary treatments (eight replicates per treatment). Piglets were offered diets containing either low (60 g/kg), medium (150 g/kg) or high (250 g/kg) lactose levels with one of the following levels of seaweed extract additive: (1) 0 g/kg, (2) 1 g/kg, (3) 2 g/kg or (4) 4 g/kg seaweed extract. The pigs were offered the diets ad libitum for 21 days post weaning. There was a significant lactose 3 seaweed extract interaction (P , 0.05) in average daily gain (ADG) during the experimental period (days 0 to 21). At the low and medium levels of lactose, there was an increase in ADG as the level of seaweed extract increased to 2 g/kg (P , 0.05). However, at the high level of lactose there was no further response in ADG as the level of seaweed extract increased above 1 g/kg. There was a significant lactose 3 seaweed extract interaction during the experimental period (days 0 to 21) (P , 0.05) on the food conversion ratio (FCR). At the low level of lactose, there was a significant improvement in FCR as the levels of seaweed extract increased to 4 g/kg (P , 0.01). At the medium level of lactose, there was a significant improvement in FCR as seaweed extract increased to 2 g/kg. However, there was no significant effect of seaweed extract on FCR at the high levels of lactose (P . 0.05). There was a linear increase in average daily feed intake (ADFI) during the experimental period (days 0 to 21) (P , 0.05) as levels of seaweed extract increased. There was a linear increase in ash digestibility (P , 0.01) during the experimental period (days 0 to 21) as the level of lactose increased. There was a quadratic decrease (P , 0.01) in nitrogen (N) and neutral detergent fibre digestibility as the levels of lactose increased. In conclusion, pigs responded differently to the inclusion levels of seaweed extract at each level of lactose supplementation. The inclusion of a laminarin-fucoidan extract in piglet diets may alleviate the use for high-lactose diets (.60 g/kg) and would also alleviate some of the common problems that occur post weaning.

Two experiments, a performance experiment and a mineral balance study, were conducted on grower-finisher pigs (42 to 101 kg live weight) to investigate the effects of Peniophora lycii phytase enzyme and 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 (25-OHD 3 ) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, nutrient retention and excretion, and bone and blood parameters. The two experiments were designed as a 2 3 2 factorial (two levels of phytase and two levels of 25-OHD 3 ). The four diets were T1, low-phosphorous diet; T2, T1 1 phytase; T3, T1 1 25-OHD 3 and T4, T1 1 phytase 1 25-OHD 3 diet. In all, 25 mg of 25-OHD 3 was used to replace 1000 IU of vitamin D 3 in diets T3 and T4. Diets were pelleted (708C) and formulated to contain similar concentrations of energy (13.8 MJ DE/kg), lysine (9.5 g/kg) and digestible phosphorus (P; 1.8 g/kg). Neither the inclusion of phytase nor 25-OHD 3 in the diet had any effect on pig performance. There was an interaction between phytase and 25-OHD 3 on calcium (Ca) and P retention ( P , 0.01) and on the apparent digestibility of ash ( P , 0.01), P ( P , 0.001) and Ca ( P , 0.001). Pigs offered phytase diets only, had a higher retention of Ca and P and digestibility of ash ( P , 0.01), P ( P , 0.001) and Ca ( P , 0.01) compared with pigs offered unsupplemented diets. However, when the combination of phytase and 25-OHD 3 were offered, no effects were detected compared with 25-OHD 3 diets only. Pigs fed phytase diets had higher bone ash ( P , 0.01), bone P ( P , 0.01) and bone Ca ( P , 0.05) concentrations compared with pigs offered non-phytase diets. In conclusion, pigs offered phytase diets had a significantly increased bone ash, Ca and P than pigs offered unsupplemented phytase diets. However, there was no advantage to offering a combination of phytase and 25-OHD 3 on either bone strength or mineral status compared to offering these feed additives separately.

The objective of the current experiment was to evaluate the influence of dietary cereal sources of beta(1,3)(1,4)-d-glucan (beta-glucan) and enzyme supplementation on indices of environmental pollution from finisher pigs. An experiment with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments was initiated to investigate the effect of dietary source of beta-glucan (barley vs. oats) and enzyme supplementation (no vs. yes) on nutrient digestibility, N utilization, intestinal fermentation, and manure odor and ammonia emissions from finisher boars (n = 4; BW = 73.9 kg; SD = 4.7). Sixteen boars were assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments (n = 4/treatment): 1) barley-based diet, 2) barley-based diet + exogenous enzyme, 3) oat-based diet, and 4) oat-based diet + enzyme. The enzyme supplement used contained endo-1,3(4)-beta-glucanase and endo-1,4-beta-xylanase. Experimental diets were formulated to contain similar concentrations of DE (13.5 MJ/kg) and digestible lysine (8.8 g/kg). Pigs offered oat-based diets had reduced digestibility of DM (0.795 vs. 0.849; SEM 0.007; P = 0.001), OM (0.808 vs. 0.865; SEM 0.007; P = 0.001), GE (0.806 vs. 0.845; SEM 0.006; P = 0.002), and NDF (0.233 vs. 0.423; SEM 0.033; P < 0.003) compared with those offered barley-based diets. Oat-based diets increased populations of Bifidobacterium spp. (7.26 vs. 6.38 log cfu/g of digesta; SEM 0.201; P = 0.005) and Lactobacillus spp. (6.99 vs. 6.18 log cfu/g of digesta; SEM 0.234; P = 0.022) in the proximal colon and decreased manure odor emissions [2,179.6 vs. 4,984.6 Ou(E)/m(3) (where Ou(E) refers to European odor units); SEM 653.7; P < 0.011] compared with barley-based diets. There was an interaction between cereal type and enzyme inclusion on manure ammonia emissions from 0 to 96 h (P = 0.050). Pigs offered barley-based diets containing an enzyme supplement had increased manure ammonia emissions compared with those offered unsupplemented barley-based diets. However, there was no effect of enzyme inclusion on oat-based diets. In conclusion, pigs offered oat-based diets harbored increased Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. populations in the proximal colon and had decreased manure odor emissions compared with those offered barley-based diets. Enzyme inclusion had no effect on manure ammonia emissions from pigs offered oat-based diets.

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