Dietary supplementation with Chinese herbal powder enhances ileal digestibilities and serum concentrations of amino acids in young pigs

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the effect of ultra-fine Chinese herbal powder as a dietary additive on serum concentrations and apparent ileal digestibilities (AID) of amino acids (AA) in young pigs. In Experiment 1, 60 Duroc x Landrace x Yorkshire piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to one of three treatments, representing supplementation with 0 or 2 g/kg of the powder, or 0.2 g/kg of colistin (an antibiotic) to corn- and soybean meal-based diets (n = 20 per group). Blood samples from five piglets per group were collected on days 7, 14, and 28 to determine serum AA concentrations. In Experiment 2, 12 barrows with an average initial body weight of 7.64 kg were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatments, followed by surgical placement of a simple T-cannula at the terminal ileum. All of the diets contained 0.1% titanium oxide as a digestibility marker. The samples of terminal ileal digesta were collected on day 7 for determining AID of AA. Results show that dietary supplementation with the herbal powder increased (P < 0.05) serum concentrations and AID of most AA by 10-50% and 10-16%, respectively. As an indicator of improved intestinal function, AID values of calcium were also enhanced in piglets supplemented with the herbal powder. Dietary supplementation of colistin increased serum concentrations and AID values of some AA by 8-44% and 10-15%, respectively, in comparison with the non-supplemented group. These novel findings demonstrate that the herbal powder can enhance the digestibility of dietary protein and the intestinal absorption of AA into the systemic circulation in post-weaning pigs, therefore providing a new mechanism for its growth- and immunity-promoting efficacy.

Co-dependence of genotype and dietary protein intake to affect expression on amino acid/peptide transporters in porcine skeletal muscle

“…Thus, dietary protein affects the growth performance and excretion of dietary nitrogen in pigs . According to previous studies (Wu 1998Kong et al 2009), higher levels of nutrients, especially AAs, that enter the portal vein from the small intestine can promote tissue protein synthesis in animals. Therefore, the NRC diet that had a higher level of protein may improve the absorption of dietary AAs and may also directly regulate the metabolism of absorbed nutrients through a signal transduction mechanism.…”

“…Plasma free AA concentrations were determined as previously described (Kong et al 2009). Briefly, 1 mL of the plasma sample and 2.5 mL of 7.5 % trichloroacetic acid solution were mixed thoroughly and centrifuged at 12,000×g and 4 °C for 15 min (Ren et al 2014c).…”

Metabolism of select amino acids in bacteria from the pig small intestine

“…Meanwhile, shifts in arginine metabolism and the formation of its products in the lumen of small intestine might have potential impact on the metabolic flux of the urea cycle and nitrogen recycling in the small intestine, especially in the ileum (Bergen and Wu 2009;Claus et al 2008;Fuller and Reeds 1998). Second, the present study may aid in explaining the health and growth-promoting effects of dietary interventions by inhibiting the growth of potential pathogenic gut bacteria, thereby improving AA absorption in the small intestine (Kong et al 2009). Compared with Streptococcus sp.…”

Effect of herbal extracts on piglet performance and small intestinal epithelial villi

“…Velazques et al (2005) reported positive effects of herb extract on the development of the intestinal tract. Also according to Kong et al (2009) the digestibility of protein and intestinal absorption of amino acids can be improved by adding herbal powder to the feed for young pigs.…”