Response of early-weaned pigs to an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (K88) challenge when fed diets containing spray-dried porcine plasma or pea protein isolate plus egg yolk antibody, zinc oxide, fumaric acid, or antibiotic1

Abstract

The effect of feeding diets containing either spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) or pea protein-isolate (PPI) supplemented with either egg yolk antibodies (EYA) from hens immunized with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) (K88 and F18) antigens, ZnO, fumaric acid (FA), or carbadox (AB) on pig performance, incidence of scours, and gut morphology was studied in a 14-d experiment. Ninety 10-d-old weaned pigs were assigned to six dietary treatments in a completely randomized design to give five pens per treatment with three pigs per pen. The diets were SDPP without EYA (SDPP - EYA), PPI without EYA (PPI - EYA), PPI with EYA (PPI + EYA), PPI with ZnO (PPI + ZnO), PPI with FA (PPI + FA), or PPI with AB (PPI + AB). Diets were formulated to similar nutrient levels, with AB, EYA, FA, and ZnO at 0.25, 0.5, 2.0, and 0.4% of the diet, respectively. Pigs were weighed and bled on d 0, 7, and 14 to determine plasma urea N (PUN). Pigs were orally challenged with a 6-mL dose of 10(10) cfu/mL ETEC (K88) on d 7. On d 14, three pigs per treatment were killed to obtain sections of the small intestine for histological measurements. Weekly feed intake, BW changes, and gain:feed were determined. Incidence of scours and scour scores were monitored and fecal swabs were taken before and after ETEC challenge for PCR test to detect ETEC (K88). Feeding SDPP or supplementing PPI-based diets with EYA, ZnO, FA, or AB did not affect (P > 0.05) ADG, ADFI (as-fed basis), or gain:feed throughout the study. However, pigs fed PPI - EYA tended to have lower (P = 0.08) ADFI during wk 2 (137.9 g/d) and lower (P < 0.10) ADG from d 0 to 14 (100.1 g/d) than those fed the SDPP - EYA (156.6 g/d), PPI + EYA (151.2 g/d), PPI + ZnO (158.9 g/ d), PPI + FA (155.4 g/d), and PPI + AB (152.6 g/d) diets. Although scours was evident in all pigs 8 h after the ETEC challenge, it lasted only 3 to 5 d in pigs fed SDPP or PPI supplemented with EYA, ZnO, FA, or AB. Pigs fed PPI - EYA continued to have severe diarrhea, resulting in 40% mortality vs. 13% or less in the other groups. The PCR results showed that 81% of PPI-fed pigs continued to shed ETEC K88 7 d after ETEC challenge. Pigs fed PPI-EYA had shorter villi (P < 0.05), reduced villi:crypt ratio (P < 0.003), and higher intestinal pH (P < 0.001) and PUN (P < 0.001) than those fed SDPP or PPI supplemented with EYA, ZnO, FA, and AB. In conclusion, SDPP, EYA, ZnO, FA, and AB may have provided passive control to ETEC (K88) infection and potentially enabled young pigs to efficiently utilize a PPI-based diet.

Microencapsulated acids associated with essential oils and acid salts for piglets in the nursery phase

“…Specifically, the treatment blend of essential oils and acids improved this ratio compared with the control treatment and the blend of microencapsulated acids. Again, this finding indicates the positive and synergistic effect of acids and essential oils on the intestinal mucosa (OWUSU-ASIEDU et al, 2003;PLATEL;SRINIVASAN, 2004;UTIYAMA et al, 2006). Despite the discrepancies, the overall results indicate that diets containing acids are preferable to the control diet, especially with respect to the villus height and villus/crypt ratio of the jejunum, an important absorptive region and producer of enzymes.…”

“…Conversely, Gomes et al (2007) found that the combination of 1% fumaric acid, 01% butyric acid and 05% formic acid in the diet of piglets at three weeks post-weaning reduced the villus height in the duodenum The numbers of Lactobacillus spp and Escherichia coli (Table 10) did not differ between treatments (P> 005), and the lack of Salmonella and Clostridium ssp were also observed. Organic acids and essential oils are known to aid the control of pathogenic microorganisms and favor the development of beneficial bacteria (OWUSU-ASIEDU et al, 2003;PLATEL;SRINIVASAN, 2004;UTIYAMA et al, 2006). However, the positive impacts of the experimental environment and management on the health of animals may have been a confounding factor in the effects of dietary supplementation on bacterial content.…”

“…Specifically, the morphometric parameters of animals that received the blend of essential oils and acids were improved compared with the parameters of those in the control group. Organic acids are recognized to prevent the colonization and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the gut to exert positive actions, such as maintaining organ integrity and promoting mucosal villus height (OWUSU-ASIEDU et al, 2003). Moreover, essential oils can stimulate digestive secretions (PLATEL; SRINIVASAN, 2004), which favors intestinal morphological development .…”

“…These effects are attributed primarily to two conditions, decreased gastric pH, which directly reduces the presence of pathogens in the stomach (PARTANEN; MROZ, 1999), and the bactericidal and bacteriostatic actions of acids. Specifically, these acids are lipophilic and readily cross the cell membranes of bacteria, particularly gram-negative bacteria This process results in cell death because most of the cell's energy is diverted toward expelling protons through the membrane (SURYANARAYANA et al, 2012).…”

Alternatives to in-feed antibiotics in pigs: Evaluation of probiotics, zinc or organic acids as protective agents for the intestinal mucosa. A comparison of in vitro and in vivo results

“…Zinc supplementation has been shown to prevent or alleviate diarrhoea in piglets [30,31,56], to maintain stable levels of the intestinal flora and diverse coliforms that may compete with diarrhoegenic strains for colonisation sites [35] and to reduce translocation of pathogenic bacteria from the small intestine to the mesenteric lymph nodes [30]. However, Li et al [41] did not observe any effect on the microflora collected from the digesta and faeces of piglets after 11 days of high dose ZnO supplementation.…”