Effect of supplementation of lecithin and carnitine on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in pigs fed high-fat diet

Abstract

Aim:To study the effect of dietary supplementation of lecithin and carnitine on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in pigs fed high-fat diet.Materials and Methods:A total of 30 weaned female large white Yorkshire piglets of 2 months of age were selected and randomly divided into three groups allotted to three dietary treatments, T1 - Control ration as per the National Research Council nutrient requirement, T2 - Control ration plus 5% fat, and T3 - T2 plus 0.5% lecithin plus 150 mg/kg carnitine. The total dry matter (DM) intake, fortnightly body weight of each individual animal was recorded. Digestibility trial was conducted toward the end of the experiment to determine the digestibility coefficient of various nutrients.Results:There was a significant improvement (p<0.01) observed for pigs under supplementary groups T2 and T3 than that of control group (T1) with regards to growth parameters studied such as total DM intake, average final body weight and total weight gain whereas among supplementary groups, pigs reared on T3 group had better intake (p<0.01) when compared to T2 group. Statistical analysis of data revealed that no differences were observed (p>0.05) among the three treatments on average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency, and nutrient digestibility during the overall period.Conclusion:It was concluded that the dietary inclusion of animal fat at 5% level or animal fat along with lecithin (0.5%) and carnitine (150 mg/kg) improved the growth performance in pigs than non-supplemented group and from the economic point of view, dietary incorporation of animal fat at 5% would be beneficial for improving growth in pigs without dietary modifiers.

Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood lipid profile and faecal Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus counts on growing pigs fed with de-oiled lecithin emulsifier

“…However, Kim et al (2008) observed no differences in digestibility of DM, energy, protein and ether extract with supplementation of 2.5% and 5% of lecithin in finishing pigs. Saseendran et al (2017) reported that in the digestibility coefficient of nutrients and minerals of piglets, no significant change was observed with 0.5% lecithin diet. It was reported that nutrient digestibility could be affected by fat types included in the diets (Mitchaothai et al 2008); therefore, the inconsistency among studies may be related to the type of lecithin and fat and the age of animals.…”

Effects of emulsifiers on lipid metabolism and performance of yellow-feathered broilers

“…Several studies have shown that dietary emulsifier supplementation significantly increased body weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake and reduced feed weight of broiler [22][23][24][25]. Furthermore, the addition of lecithin to the broiler diet has been shown to significantly improves the digestibility of feed fat, leading to increased weight gain of broilers and improving feed conversion rate [26][27][28]. The results of this experiment align with these findings, as dietary emulsifier supplementation significantly increased and promoted the ADG of yellowfeathered broilers aged 43 to 63 days, consistent with the results of the aforementioned studies.…”