The effects of clinoptilolite on piglet and heavy pig production

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of clinoptilolite on piglet and heavy pig production two separated trials have been performed. In the first trial 40 pigs of the initial body weight of 55 kg were used. Animals were homogeneously allocated to two groups: a control group traditionally fed and a clinoptilolite group in which feed contained the additive at 2%. Pigs were slaugh- tered at about 160 kg body weight. Blood samples were taken to determine blood urea nitrogen (BUN). In the second trial a total of 116 piglets from 12 litters was used. Six litters were fed from the 7th day of life a diet containing clinoptilolite at 2%. According to the dietary treatment of the suckling period, 84 weaned piglets were homogeneously allocated to two groups fed up to 33 kg body weight a diet containing or not clinoptilolite at 2%. In both trials daily weight gain, feed intake and pigs&rsquo; health were regularly recorded. The dietary inclusion of clinoptilolite at 2% did not resulted in any modification either of growing performances or of uraemia. Piglets on clinoptilolite diet showed a significant (P<0.05) improvement of faecal dry matter content. At slaughtering the dietary inclusion of clinoptilolite resulted in a trend towards an improvement of lean cuts yield and in a significant increase (P<0.05) of the ratio between lean and fat cuts. From our data it is sug- gested that clinoptilolite does not impair pig growing performances, determines a higher dry matter content of piglet fae- ces and improves carcass quality of heavy pigs with particular regard to lean cuts yield and lean to fat cuts ratio

The effect of dietary halloysite supplementation on the performance and meat quality of pigs and some air indices in piggery

“…In group E, higher meat weight of primal cuts, including the weight of ham or loin, was caused mainly by higher liveweight at slaughter. These observations are partially in line with the findings of Sardi et al 20 , who did not observe an improvement in growing parameters (BWG, FCR) of fatteners fed with CPL but noted a higher percentage of primal cuts and improvement in their lean-to-fat ratio. It is also worth noting that in our study dressing percentage, carcass meat percentage, and average backfat thickness remained unaffected by treatment, which may indicate an equal increase in protein and energy utilization of animals from group E. As a consequence, there were no differences in the meatiness or www.nature.com/scientificreports/ fat content of the carcasses.…”

“…Indeed, minerals are characterised by various properties due to the varied conditions in which they have developed. According to Sardi et al 20 , the properties of clays may be related to the deposit and result from the presence of specific compounds or impurities (i.e., feldspar, apatite, calcite). These differences may, to a greater or lesser extent, affect the results of the experiments.…”

“…Indeed, minerals are characterised by various properties due to the varied conditions in which they have developed. According to Sardi et al 20 , the properties of clays may be related…”

The effects of Sepiolite-SPLF on piglet and heavy pig production

“…Piglets receiving SPLF showed, in fact, a significant (P<0.05) reduction of severe (13.3 vs. 25.4%) and medium (17.8 vs. 31.7%) forms which corresponded to a relative significant (P<0.01) increase in the occurrences of mild diarrhea (68.9 vs. 42.9%). Although differences in mean values were not significant, piglets receiving SPLF showed a higher dry matter content of feces; this latter effect, that in the present experiment was obtained by adding SPLF at 1%, was also observed in weanling piglets by using clinoptilolite at 2% (Malagutti et al, 2002;Sardi et al, 2002) and on growing pigs either by using clinoptilolite at 4% (Malagutti et al, 1997) or phillipsite at 2% (Benatti et al, 1994). From a general standpoint, these positive results could be related to the physiology of the intensive-bred young pig that is particularly exposed to clinical and sub-clinical troubles.…”