Effect of Green Tea Probiotics on the Growth Performance, Meat Quality and Immune Response in Finishing Pigs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of green tea probiotics on growth performance, meat quality and immune response in finishing pigs, and to assess the possibility of substituting green tea probiotics for antibiotics in diets of finishing pigs. This green tea probiotics is made by mixing green tea powder and excipients (defatted rice bran and wheat bran) and fermenting the mixture with beneficial bacteria. A total of 90 crossbreed "Landrace×Yorkshire" finishing pigs with an average body weight of 72.5±2.5 kg were assigned to 5 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had 3 replications with 6 pigs per replication. The five dietary treatments were control, antibiotic (0.003% chlortetracycline added) and 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0% of green tea probiotics. There were no significant differences in final body weight, daily weight gain, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio in the green tea probiotics and antibiotic treatments (p>0.05). Crude protein content was significantly increased in the 0.1 and 1.0% green tea probiotics treatment groups (p<0.05) and there was no significant difference in crude fat content of the meat among the treatments. The TBA value of meat was significantly lowered with 0.5 and 1.0% green tea probiotics treatments compared to that of controls and statistically similar to the antibiotic treatment after 3 weeks of storage (p<0.05). The growth of spleen cells stimulated with Con A (0.1 and 1.0 μg/ml) was significantly increased with 1.0% green tea probiotics treatment compared to that of the control treatment (p<0.05). The growth of spleen cells stimulated with LPS (1.0, 3.0 and 10 μg/ml) was significantly increased in the 0.5% green tea probiotics group compared to the antibiotic group (p<0.05). In Con A (1.0 μg/ml) medium, IL-6 production of spleen cells was significantly increased with 1.0% green tea probiotics treatment compared to that of the control (p<0.05). In LPS (10.0 μg/ml) medium, TNF-α production of spleen cells increased significantly in all green tea probiotics treatment groups compared to that of the control (p<0.05). Finally it can be summarized that addition of green tea probiotic has a positive effect similar to antibiotic and 0.5% is the suitable dietary supplementation dose for finishing pig production.

Microbial Feed Supplements for Ruminant’s Performance Enhancement

“…The definition of microbial feed supplements, Direct-Fed Microbials (DFM), or probiotics as they traditionally have been called is very broad and may include specific and nonspecific yeast, fungi, bacteria, cell fragments and filtrates (Knowlton et al, 2002). The term "probiotic" has been defined as a live microbial feed supplement, which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance (Fuller, 1989;Ko and Yang, 2008). Also, in feed regulation, probiotics were included in the group of microbial feed supplements for stabilizing the microbial communities of the animal's digestive tract and play an important role in animal's protection against harmful microorganisms and strengthen the host's immune system (Salem et al, 2000).…”

Nutritional applications and beneficial health applications of green tea and l‐theanine in some animal species: A review

“…Lymphocyte proliferation test following Concanavalin A (Con A) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation showed better lymphoproliferation in green tea-and probiotic-fed pig (Ko & Yang, 2008). Lymphocyte proliferation test following Concanavalin A (Con A) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation showed better lymphoproliferation in green tea-and probiotic-fed pig (Ko & Yang, 2008).…”

“…The addition of GTB and green tea with probiotics (GT + P) which include Bifidobacterium long, B. infants, B. breve and Lactobacillus helveticus, L. plantarum, L. cases and L. rhamnosu reduced TBARS value. Lymphocyte proliferation test following Concanavalin A (Con A) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation showed better lymphoproliferation in green tea-and probiotic-fed pig (Ko & Yang, 2008). Chevon patties treated with 2% GTE were tested for physicochemical and organoleptic qualities, and the results revealed that the pH and the TBA values were significantly lowered with a reduced viral load (Nath, Kumar, Praveen, & Ganguly, 2016).…”

Potential of bamboo vinegar with liquid probiotics on growth performance, fecal microbiology and fecal odorous gas emissions from finishing pigs

“…The desired effect is improved weight gain and feed efficiency via improved gut digestion and reduced pathogenic organism loads. Ko and Yang (2008) found that finishing pigs receiving probiotics in their feed showed equal or superior daily gain, intake, and feed efficiency as pigs fed antibiotics.…”

“…Suga et al (2003) isolated an antioxidative phyllostadimier from Phyllostachys edulis, a common bamboo species. The combination of medicinal plants with probiotics has shown the potential to improve many aspects of broilers (Sarker et al, 2010a(Sarker et al, , 2010b(Sarker et al, , 2010c, pigs (Ko and Yang, 2008) and calves (Sarker et al, 2010e). To the best of our knowledge, there were limited researches has been conducted on the combination of bamboo vinegar and probiotics on the growth performance, fecal microbiology and fecal odorous gas emissions in finishing pigs.…”