Effects of Dietary Fermented Aged Garlic Supplementation on Growth Performance, Digestibility, Blood Profiles, Gas Emissions and Microbiota in Weanling Pigs

Abstract Text: Garlic possesses antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antiviral, and antioxidant activities, but would reduce feed intake resulted from the pungent smell, which is not contained in fermented aged garlic (FG) because of the aging process. Pigs [(Duroc×Yorkshire)×Landrace; BW=5.74±1.15 kg; weaned at d 21 after birth] were assigned to 1 of 5 dietary treatments (6 pens/treatment, 5 pigs/pen) by BW and sex (2 barrows and 3 gilts) for a 6-wk experiment. The pen was considered as the experimental unit in the statistical model. Treatments were corn soybean meal based diets supplemented with 0.0033% tiamulin, 0, 0.05, 0.10 or 0.20% FG. The average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain/feed (G/F) were linearly (P<0.05) increased by FG in the diet during d 21 to 42 and 0 to 42. Dietary supplementation of FG linearly increased (P<0.05) coefficient of total tract apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), and gross energy (GE) as well as blood IgG concentration during the 6^th wk. The fecal NH₃ and total mercaptans emissions as well as fecal E. coli counts were linearly (P<0.05) reduced by FG in the diet. Dietary supplementation of FG increased (P<0.05) ADFI during d 21 to 42 and d 0 to 42, and reduced (P<0.05) fecal NH₃ emissions compared pigs fed tiamulin. In conclusion, results indicate that FG can enhance growth performance and digestibility, reduce fecal E. coli counts and fecal gas emissions in weanling pigs.

Table 1. Effect of fermented aged garlic on performance in weanling pigs
Items		PC	NC	FG1	FG2	FG3	SE	Linear	FG vs. PC
d 21 to 42	ADG, g	578	527	559	589	599	11	<0.01	0.77
	ADFI, g	856	853	861	859	862	1	<0.01	<0.01
	G/F	0.675	0.618	0.649	0.686	0.695	0.013	<0.01	0.94
d 0 to 42	ADG, g	471	438	459	477	481	8	<0.01	0.89
	ADFI, g	679	677	682	681	683	1	0.01	0.04
	G/F	0.694	0.647	0.672	0.700	0.705	0.012	<0.01	0.92
6th wk	DM	0.801	0.792	0.800	0.813	0.811	0.006	0.02	0.14
	N	0.800	0.786	0.796	0.815	0.813	0.005	0.02	0.49
	GE	0.807	0.787	0.803	0.814	0.816	0.005	<0.01	0.08
d 42	IgG, mg/dL	333.5	318.5	345.3	348.5	361.0	4.35	0.01	0.16
	NH3, ppm	26.9	28.2	24.5	21.0	20.4	1.9	0.02	<0.01
	E. coli, log10cfu/g	5.98	6.22	5.97	5.87	5.89	0.10	0.03	0.50

  Keywords: fermented aged garlic, growth performance, weanling pig