Biological response of piglets challenged with Escherichia coli F4 (K88) when fed diets containing intestinal alkaline phosphatase

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) added to diets on growth performance, diarrhoea incidence (DI), blood metabolites, relative organ weight, and intestinal morphometry of weaned piglets challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 (K88). A total of 64 crossbred entire male piglets (25-day-old and 7.16 ± 0.28 kg body weight) were allocated into four treatments: control diet (CD<sup>–</sup>), CD<sup>–</sup> + antimicrobial growth promoter (AGP), CD<sup>–</sup> + 15 mg IAP/kg of diet and CD<sup>–</sup> + 30 mg IAP/kg of diet, with eight replications. At 15 days, all piglets were orally challenged with 6 ml of a solution containing K88 (10<sup>6</sup> colony forming units/ml). Microencapsulated IAP in acid solution showed 14.43% solubility and pH values of 1.69, 1.72, 1.51, and 1.52 at the different times measured (0.5 h, 1.0 h, 17.0 h, and 24 h); differently, IAP in basic solution had 4.10% solubility and pH values increased (5.95, 6.10, 6.32 and 6.63) according to the different times, respectively. On days 25–35, piglets that received 30 mg IAP and CD<sup>–</sup> showed a better feed conversion ratio (P = 0.075) compared to those fed 15 mg IAP. Piglets that consumed 30 mg IAP or CD<sup>–</sup> had higher (P = 0.004) average daily gain on days 35–44. On days 35–44, the piglet average daily feed intake was lower (P = 0.033) with 15 mg IAP compared to AGP. In the entire period, piglets fed 15 mg IAP showed a reduction in average daily gain (P = 0.040) and average daily feed intake (P = 0.092). Piglets on 30 mg IAP showed an improvement (P ≤ 0.05) in DI in the pre-and post-challenge periods. The relative spleen weight of the piglet increased (P = 0.043) in response to 30 mg IAP. Overall, the addition of 30 mg IAP to diets improves the growth performance, attenuates DI, and promotes an increase in spleen relative weight to maintain the healthy state of piglets.

Effects of functional oil blend on performance, blood metabolites, organ biometry and intestinal morphometry in nursery piglets

“…Using phytogenic feed additives as antimicrobial alternatives to conventional antimicrobial in pig production is of scientific and industrial interest (Cairo et al, 2018). Thus, searching for dietary ingredients that promote health and effective GIT function in piglets is important for pig farming due to conventional antimicrobial feed additives prohibition (Genova et al, 2021). This study was conducted to assess the effects of functional oil blend (castor oil plus cashew nutshell oil) on performance, blood metabolites, organ biometry, and intestinal morphometry in nursery piglets.…”

“…Intestine length and organ weight (empty stomach, spleen, liver with gallbladder, empty small intestine, empty cecum, and empty colon) were determined using a measuring tape and a digital scale, respectively. Organ weights relative to slaughter BW were calculated as previously described by Genova et al (2021).…”

“…Samples were inserted into individual histological cassettes, embedded in paraffin, and cut using a microtome (RM2125 RTS, Leica Biosystems, São Paulo, SP, Brazil) as described by Genova et al (2021). Slides were made in two replicates per sample (with no serial cuts) and then stained with hematoxylin and eosin.…”

“…Treatment effects were analyzed via analysis of covariance using Fisher criterion. Differences were declared significant when p < 0.10 (Genova et al, 2021;Silva et al, 2021). All data were presented as means with standard error of mean.…”

“…Hence, research efforts have targeted finding natural dietary alternatives (Yang et al, 2015;Lan et al, 2016) that could replace the use of antibiotics in diets (Genova et al, 2021). In recent years, phytogenic feed additives, especially functional oils, have been widely studied (Zhang et al, 2012;Jiang et al, 2015).…”