Effects of Anion Supplementation on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Meat Quality and Fecal Noxious Gas Content in Growing-finishing Pigs

Abstract

Forty-eight ((Duroc×Yorkshire)×Landrace) pigs with an average initial body weight (BW) of 48.47±1.13 kg were used in a 12-week growth trial to investigate the influence of Anion (silicate) supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, meat quality and fecal noxious gas content in growing-finishing pigs. Pigs were allotted into three dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design according to sex and initial BW. Each dietary treatment consisted of four replications with four pigs per pen. Dietary treatments included: i) CON (basal diet), ii) HCI (basal diet+3 g/kg Anion), iii) HCII (basal diet+6 g/kg Anion). No significant difference (p>0.05) was detected for average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and gain/feed ratio (G/F) throughout the experiment, although dietary supplementation of Anion numerically increased these characteristics compared with CON. The dietary HCI group significantly (p<0.05) increased the coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N) and energy compared with the CON group (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed in meat quality except that meat firmness was linearly (p<0.05) increased by the Anion supplementation, while an increased tendency in meat color and a decreased tendency in 2thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was also observed (p<0.10). Anion supplementation linearly (p<0.05) decreased the fecal NH 3 compared with the CON group. However, dietary Anion supplementation at 3 g/kg decreased the H 2 S concentration compared with CON, while no significant difference was detected in the HCII group, although the H 2 S emission was numerically decreased compared with CON. In conclusion, supplementation of the diet with 3 g/kg Anion was found to exert a beneficial effect on nutrient digestibility and meat quality of growing-finishing pigs, and concomitantly decreased the noxious gas emission without negative effect on growth performance.

Dietary Effect of Artificial Zeolite on Performance, Immunity, Faecal Microflora Concentration and Noxious Gas Emissions in Pigs

“…Therefore, we investigated whether supplementation with AZ would exert positive effects on the growth performance of pigs. However, no significant effects on ADG, ADFI or feed efficiency of growing-finishing pigs were observed (Table 2), which is in agreement with the results reported by Chen et al (2005aChen et al ( , 2005b and Yan et al (2010). In contrast, a significant increase in feed conversion efficiency relative to the control was observed in pigs provided clinoptilolite supplemented diets (Mumpton and Fishman, 1977).…”

“…AZ had no significant effect on carcass quality grade and conformation grade of pork (Table 4), which is consistent with the results of a study conducted by Yan et al (2010). The toxic cation absorption capacity of zeolite prevented adverse effects on metabolic functions in hogs (Pond et al, 1993), resulting in no effect on carcass quality.…”

Clays as dietary supplements for swine: A review

“…Similarly, Thacker [ 33 ] fed 0, 0.25, 0.5 or 0.75 % Biotite during the growing period and 0, 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 % during the finishing period and observed no improvement in pig performance. Yan et al [ 34 ], fed the same composite clay as Yan et al [ 28 ] and found no improvement in growing-finishing pig performance. In addition, Lin et al [ 18 ], Yu et al [ 20 ], Poulsen and Oksbjerg [ 35 ], Shurson et al [ 36 ], Parisini et al [ 37 ], Abranches et al [ 38 ] and Han and Thacker [ 39 ] reported no improvements in pig performance as a result of dietary inclusion of clays.…”

“…Where improvements in pig performance have been noted, one of the most likely explanations for the improvement in performance is the fact that dietary clay supplementation has been shown to increase nutrient digestibility [ 8 , 9 , 27 , 28 , 34 – 37 ]. Li and Kim [ 27 ] reported that dietary supplementation with 0.5 and 1.0 % sericite increased the total tract digestibility of dry matter by 3.9 and 7.5 %, as well as the digestibility of nitrogen by 4.9 and 5.7 % for growing pigs (Table 3 ).…”

“…Yan et al [ 34 ] reported that the digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen and energy was quadratically increased when growing-finishing pigs were fed 0, 3 or 6 g/kg of a clay composite (Table 4 ). In a subsequent experiment, Yan et al [ 28 ] reported significant improvements in dry matter and nitrogen digestibility for weaned pigs following 7 days of feeding the clay composite while no difference was observed after 21 days of treatment.…”