Blood plasma replacement by hydrolyzed yeast in weaned piglets diets

Abstract Text: The aim of this study was to evaluate partial levels or complete substitution of blood plasma by hydrolyzed yeast as a source of nucleotides in piglet’s diets. For this, 1600 weaned piglets (±21 days of age) Agroceres PIC® distributed in a randomized block design with 4 treatments and 10 replicates of 40 animals each. The nursery phase was divided in four: pre-initial I: 22 to 28 days; pre-initial II: 29 to 35 days; initial I: 36 to 47 days and initial II: 48 to 63 days. The treatments consisted in different inclusions of plasma and hydrolyzed yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) [HY] (Hilyses® - from ICC Brazil Company): 1- Control – conventional diet provided at the farm, with normal levels of plasma (6, 4, 2, and 0% - in the respective phases); 2- Diet with plasma reduction (3, 2, 1, 0) + HY (4, 3, 2 and 0%); 3- Diet with plasma reduction (1.5, 1, 0.5 and 0%) + HY (6, 4.5, 3 and 0%); 4- Diet without plasma + HY (8, 6, 4 and 0%). The piglets begin receiving the experimental diets after weaning until the end of this phase (±66 days). The feed intake (FI) and body weight were measured at the end of each phase. Based on this, FI (g/d), body weight gain (BWG, g/d) and feed conversion ratio (FCR, g/g) were calculated. Mortality were daily observed and noted. Data obtained were analyzed with GLM (SAS) procedure and means were compared by Tukey test (P=0.05). In pre-initial 1 phase the control treatment (no replacement) resulted in better (P<0.05) FI and BWG, when compared to other treatments. However, during phase pre-initial 2, treatments with the larger proportion of HY (3 and 4) showed an increase (P<0.05) in FI (26.3 and 13.7%, respectively); in phase initial 1, improved (P<0.05) BWG (30.8%, for both treatments) and FCR (-17.4 and -17.3%, respectively). Considering the total period, the treatment 3 improved numerically (not statistically) FI (4.1%), BWG (8%), FCR (-2.3%) and mortality (-83.3%). The analysis of the data allow to conclude that, in commercial farm conditions, the replacement of blood plasma by hydrolyzed yeast as a source of nucleotides is a viable alternative, and may even improve FI, BWG, FCR and mortality.

Keywords: Nucleotides; Nursery; Nutrition; Saccharomyces cerevisiae