Effects of feeding diets containing essential oils and betaine to heat-stressed growing-finishing pigs

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the effects of dietary essential oils (EO) and betaine on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and serum hormones in growing-finishing pigs under heat stress conditions. A total of 96 crossed pigs [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] with an initial body weight (BW) of 24.7 ± 0.27 kg were used in an 18-week trial. Pigs were randomly allocated to four treatments according to BW and gender. There were six replication pens in each treatment, with four pigs (two barrows and two gilts) per pen. Treatment groups were: (1) control group (CON), basal diet + 23°C for 24 h; (2) heat stress group (HC) with basal diet + 37°C for 9 h, 23°C for 15 h; (3) group HEO, HC with 0.01% EO; (4) group HBE, HC with 0.1% betaine. During the overall period, groups HEO and HBE had higher (p < 0.05) average daily gain than group HC. At week 6, group HC had a lower apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM) (p < 0.05), but at week 12, this group had lower ATTD of DM, nitrogen and gross energy than group HEO (p < 0.05). At week 12 and 18, dietary EO decreased (p < 0.05) serum cortisol and norepinephrine concentration. At week 18, dietary EO and betaine decreased (p < 0.05) epinephrine concentration. Conclusively, dietary EO may be a potential nutritional strategy to alleviate heat stress in growing-finishing pigs.

Invited review: Management strategies capable of improving the reproductive performance of heat-stressed dairy cattle

“…However, betaine also plays a role in the methionine cycle, where it acts as a substrate for the enzyme betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT), a back-up to methionine synthase, which converts homocysteine back to methionine (Perez-Miguelsanz et al, 2017). Betaine has already proven beneficial in heat stress for its ability to restore growth rates in heat-stressed animals (Mendoza et al, 2017;Lan and Kim, 2018). There is also evidence that betaine supplementation improves lactation, as well as restoring follicle diameter and shortening ovulation time in heat-stressed sows (Cabezón et al, 2017).…”

Betaine attenuates LPS-induced downregulation of Occludin and Claudin-1 and restores intestinal barrier function

“…Some researchers find that betaine has osmotic protection properties that help protecting the proteins and enzymes of intestinal cells from environmental stress. Inclusion of betaine in the diet have a beneficial effect on relieving physical reactions to heat stress in both poultry and growing-finishing pigs [10,11]. However, the specific mechanisms regarding how does it improve the intestinal function remains elusive.…”

Chitosan Oligosaccharides Protect Sprague Dawley Rats from Cyclic Heat Stress by Attenuation of Oxidative and Inflammation Stress

“…The increased ROS resulted in stimulated intracellular and extracellular superoxide formation and was responsible for oxidative stress [15]. Heat stress generates ROS, which may modulate the inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor-κB [16], inducing hormonal and metabolic changes, secretion of inflammatory cytokines [17], and decrease the level of antioxidant enzymes [17]. Former studies demonstrated that the pro-inflammatory cytokines level will increase under heat stress [13,14,18].…”