BackgroundCreep feeding is used to stimulate piglet post-weaning feed consumption. L-Glutamine (GLN) is an important source of fuel for intestinal epithelial cells. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of creep feeding and adding GLN or AminoGut (AG; containing glutamine + glutamate) to pre- and post-weaning diets on pig performance and intestinal health. Litters (N = 120) were allotted to four treatments during 14–21 d of lactation: 1) No creep feed (NC, n = 45); 2) creep fed control diet (CFCD, n = 45); 3) creep fed 1% GLN (CFGLN, n = 15); 4) creep fed .88% AG (CFAG, n = 15). After weaning, the NC and CFCD groups were sub-divided into three groups (n = 15 each), receiving either a control nursery diet (NC-CD, CFCD-CD) or a diet supplemented with either GLN (NC-GLN, CFCD-GLN) or with AG (NC-AG, CFCD-AG). Litters that were creep fed with diets containing GLN or AG also were supplemented with those amino acids in the nursery diets (CFGLN-GLN, CFAG-AG). Glutamine was added at 1% in all three post-weaning diet phases and AG was added at .88% in phase 1 and 2 and at .66% in phase 3.ResultsFeed conversion (feed/gain) showed means among treatment means close to significance (P = 0.056) and Tukey’s test for pairwise mean comparisons showed that Pigs in the CFGLN-GLN group had the best feed conversion (feed/gain) in the first three-week period post-weaning, exceeding (P = 0.044) controls (CFCD-CD) by 34%. The NC-AG group had (P = 0.02) the greatest feed intake in the last three week of the study, exceeding controls (CFCD-CD) by 12%. CFGLN-GLN, CFCD-GLN and sow reared (SR) pigs had the greatest (P = 0.049) villi height exceeding the CFCD-AG group by 18%, 20% and 19% respectively. The CFAG-AG group had the deepest (P = 0.001) crypts among all treatments. CFGLN-GLN, CFCD-GLN and SR groups had the greatest (P = 0.001) number of cells proliferating (PCNA) exceeding those in the NC-CD group by 43%, 54% and 63% respectively. Sow reared pigs showed the greatest (P = 0.001) intestinal absorption capacity for xylose and mannitol.ConclusionSupplementation of creep feed and nursery diets with GLN and/or AminoGut in the first three week improved feed conversion possibly due to improved intestinal health.

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in milk, and lactation is associated with increased glutamine utilization both for milk synthesis and as a fuel for the enlarged small intestine. A number of recent studies have indicated that lactation is accompanied by a mild catabolic state in which skeletal muscle proteins are degraded to provide amino acids that are used to synthesize additional glutamine. In this study we tested the hypothesis that supplemental L-glutamine or the commercially available glutamine supplement Aminogut (2.5% by weight mixed into daily feed) provided to gilts from 30 days prior to parturition until 21 days post-parturition would prevent a decrease in skeletal muscle glutamine while increasing the glutamine content of the milk. Muscle glutamine content decreased (P < 0.05) in control animals during lactation but this was prevented by supplementation with either L-glutamine or Aminogut. In this study, neither lactation nor supplementation had any effect on plasma glutamine or glutamate content. Free glutamine, and the total glutamine plus glutamate concentrations in milk from the control and the Aminogut group rose (P < 0.05) during the first 7 days of lactation, with milk concentrations in the L-glutamine supplemented group showing a similar trend (P = 0.053). Milk glutamate remained constant between day 7 and 21 of lactation in the control and L-glutamine supplemented groups, but by day 21 of lactation the free glutamine, glutamate, and glutamine plus glutamate concentrations in milk from Aminogut-treated gilts were higher than those of control gilts. Thus dietary glutamine supplementation can alleviate the fall in intramuscular glutamine content during lactation in gilts, and may alleviate some of the catabolic effects of lactation. Furthermore, the increased milk glutamine content in the supplemented gilts may provide optimum nutrition for piglet development.

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The effects of dietary inclusion levels of the association of glutamine with glutamic acid (AminoGut: AmG) on the performance, gastrointestinal morphophysiology, and diarrhea incidence of piglets weaned at 21 days of age were evaluated. In the experiment, 120 piglets with 6.24 ± 1.00 kg initial weight were distributed according to a randomized block experimental design into five treatments with six replicates of four animals each. The following treatments were applied: negative control diet (0% AmG); 0.5% AmG; 1.0% AmG; 1.5% AmG; positive control diet (0% AmG, 4% inclusion of porcine plasma). The inclusion of 1.0% AmG, as compared to the positive control diet, improved weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The lowest diarrhea score was observed when 1.0% AmG was included, whereas the best villus height and villus:crypt ratio were obtained with the inclusion of 0.82% AmG. Villus height, crypt depth, and villus:crypt ratio values obtained with 1.0% AmG were similar to those obtained with the positive control diet, except in the period of 21 to 28 days, when the diet with 1.0% AmG promoted higher villus:crypt ratio. The supplementation of 0.5 and 1.0% AmG affected organ weights, and reduced digestive content pH in the pylorus and in the ileum relative to the positive control diet. The dietary supplementation of 1% glutamine associated with glutamic acid improves the performance and the morphophysiology of piglets weaned at 21 days of age.

RESUMO. O experimento objetivou determinar a exigência de lisina total em rações com baixo teor de proteína, formuladas de acordo com o conceito de proteína ideal, para suínos em crescimento e terminação (35,13,35 a 84,77,09kg). Foram utilizados 32 suínos machos castrados, 16 do grupo genético comum (GGC) e 16 do grupo genético melhorado (GGM). Os tratamentos consistiram de quatro dietas (0,75% 0,90% 1,05% e 1,20% de lisina total para o crescimento e 0,60% 0,75% 0,90% e 1,05% para a terminação). Para o GGM, tanto na fase de crescimento como na de terminação, níveis crescentes de lisina levaram à redução do CRD e do GPD, sem, contudo, influenciar a CA. No GGC, o desempenho e o nitrogênio da uréia plasmática não foram influenciados. Os resultados sugerem que a exigência de lisina total para suínos machos castrados, de ambos os grupos genéticos, é 0,75% para o crescimento e 0,60% para a terminação.