Background and Purpose: Yeast derivative mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) and zeolite clinoptilolite (CPL) well known nutritional supplements acting as either prebiotic or immunobiotic, respectively, in animal husbandry. The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not these agents referred to as potential alternatives to antibiotics may positively influence systemic immune parameters of weaned pigs without negatively affecting their hematological, serum biochemical and gut histological homeostasis.
Materials and Methods: Sixty pigs from a commercial farm were divided into three groups comprising 20 pigs each and treated at 4 weeks of age as follows: controls received standard weaner diet, whereas diet for principals was supplemented with 0.2% of MOS or 0.5% of CPL. The experiment was conducted throughout 35 days and at either
Conclusions: MOS did not affect any of monitored parameters, and CPL only sporadically induced lymphopaenia and granulocytosis, decrease of CK and total proteins and increase of urea and creatinine levels, indicating that the agents were not associated with any harmful side effects on monitored blood and gut parameters and impairment in general health status of pigs.
INTRODUCTIONT he EU ban on in-feed antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in swine production has stimulated research for alternative strategies on weaning diets as a way of reducing postweaning gut infections of bacterial etiology and growth retardation as well as of modulating immune functions in order to increase the resistance of pigs to enteric diseases. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, the results obtained with majority of these substances remained inconclusive as the final aim of using such in-feed supplements is to promote pig immunity, health and performance. Among those few which have shown to be effective in zootechnology and biomedicine are: (a) a variety of polysaccharides from different natural sources, such as yeast derivatives b-glucans and mannans (3) and (b) natural clay minerals, such as aluminosilicate compounds bentonite, kaolin, diosmectite, attapulgite and zeolite (12). The main source for in-feed supplement currently used in pig nutrition as a natural additive is mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) found in large quantities in yeast cell wall (3, 9), The most promising results to date have been obtained with montmorillonite, smectite, illite, kaolinite, biotic and zeolite clinoptilolite (CPL) for their ability to replace AGP as feed additives and to maintain swine health and performance (7,11).
HRVOJE VALPOTIĆ
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RENATA BARIĆ-RAFAJAmong 140 types of natural zeolites, the best known and the most thoroughly tested for its safety and efficacy as feed additive for animal species of veterinary importance is CPL (13). CPL has shown to be effective as growth-promoting (14), immunostimulating (15) and gut health restoring anti-bacterial (16 ) dietary supplement in pigs. Moreover, CPL is the most widespread compound in the medical market and recently has been approved as feed additive in the EU. The CP...