Effects of chromium picolinate, L-carnitine and thyroxine on the performance, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance in pigs weaned at 21 days of age

Abstract

A 3-week-growth trial was conducted to investigate the effects of chromium picolinate, L-carnitine, and thyroxine on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and N balance in starter pigs. Eighty starter pigs (Landrace x Yorkshire x Duroc, 21 ±2 days of age, 5.4 kg of average initial body weight) were employed in a completely randomized block design with four treatments: 1. Control: without additives, 2. CrP: control diet + 0.05% of chromium picolinate, 3. Carnitine: control diet + 0.5% of Camifeed(10%> of carnitine), 4. Thyroxine: control diet + L-thyroxine injection (0.1 mg/day/ head), 5 replications and 4 heads per pen. Although there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI), all of the pigs supplemented with CrP, L-carnitine and thyroxine grew better than pigs in the control group. Pigs fed L-carnitine showed the best ADG (15% of improvement compared with control group) through the entire experimental period and feed/gain ratio was improved (PO.05). Digestibilities of energy, dry matter, crude protein and crude ash were improved (P<0.05) by the inclusion of L-carnitine, chromium picolinate or injection of thyroxine. Pigs fed chromium picolinate showed the best nutrient digestibilities. In a N balance trial, excreted N was lower (PO.05) in pigs of all treated groups than in the control group. The N in feed also was more efficiently retained in pigs of treated groups. The DNA content of the liver

Effect of L-carnitine supplementation on growth performance, nutrient utilization, and nitrogen balance of broilers fed with animal fat

“…Similarly, Cho et al . [ 21 ] also observed improvement in availability of dry matter, crude protein and ash with 0.5% L-carnitine in diet of weaned pigs.…”

Effect of dietary supplementation with l-carnitine, chromium, and selenium on the performance of finishing pigs

“…Real et al (2008), when studying pregnant and lactating sows provided with diets supplemented with L-carnitine (90 and 250 mg day -1 ) and chromium (360 to 1,000 µg day -1 ) using a factorial design, reported that such combinations at higher doses improved reproductive indices, particularly the number of live births in the first two parities, which suggests an additive effect of the supplements. The dietary association of chromium propionate (0.2 mg kg -1 of feed) with L-carnitine (500 mg kg -1 of feed) for piglets 21 days post-weaning led to improvements in performance characteristics (CHO et al, 2000). According to Woodworth et al (2007), the proposed mechanism of this joint action is based on the influence of chromium on glucose and insulin levels immediately after feeding and of carnitine on non-esterified fatty acids (an important metabolic fuel) 6 to 24 h after feeding, as well as the IGF concentration, which reduces body fat, changes lipid oxidation, and increases protein synthesis.…”