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Effects of seaweed β-1,3-glucan (Algamune) on growth performance of weaned piglets
Tuesday, March 17, 2015: 4:45 PM
318-319 (Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center)
Zongjia Cheng
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Yongsheng Wang
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Danxi Hou
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Hongyu Zhang
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Yiqun Chen
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Heng Lei
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Bo Wang
,
Animal Nutrition & Feed Center, COFCO Nutrition and Health Institute, Beijing, China
Robert Levine
,
Algal Scientific Corporation, Northville, MI
Abstract Text: The experiment was designed to investigate Algamune™ (
dried algae containing about 50% β-1,3-glucan) effects on growth performance. Healthy weaned piglets (n=192), aged 35 d, were selected and divided into four treatment groups, with each group comprising four replicates of 12 pigs each. Pigs were fed ad libitum and given free access to water. The feeding trial ran for 22 d from the start of the nursery period. The experiment comprised four treatment groups: a control group (no Algamune™), the feed formula in control group contained soybean meal, extruded soybeans, corn, fish meal and premix, and three test groups, the feed formula in test groups were similar to that of control group, except that they also contained 0.05%, 0.1%, or0.15% Algamune™ (equivalent to 500, 1000, 1500 g/MT, respectively). All dietary amino acids and nutrients met or exceeded NRC (1998) standards. Data were processed using software SPSS16.0 significant difference analysis.
Table 1. Effect of beta glucan on nursery pigs (mean ± standard error)
Group
|
Control
|
0.05% Algamune™
|
0.1% Algamune™
|
0.15% Algamune™
|
Initial WT (kg)
|
12.21 ± 1.11
|
12.12 ± 2.32
|
12.18 ± 2.22
|
12.17 ± 1.96
|
ADG (g)
|
478 ± 7.5
|
503 ± 45.3
|
487 ± 76.2
|
490 ± 76.2
|
ADFI (g)
|
738 ± 87.8
|
778 ± 58.0
|
715 ± 101.9
|
692 ± 104.3
|
FCR
|
1.54 ± 0.17
|
1.55 ± 0.09
|
1.47 ± 0.05
|
1.42 ± 0.13
|
Compared with the control group, the test groups showed a trend towards an increase in ADG with the 0.05% β-glucan group showing a 5.1% increase, but the groups were not significantly different (p=0.945, Table 1). Also, ADFI for the 0.05% β-glucan treatment group was numerically higher than the control while higher doses of β-glucan showed numerically lower ADFI (p=0.599, Table 1). Compared with the control group, the 0.1% β-glucan group demonstrated a 4.5% decrease in FCR and the 0.15% β-glucan group a decrease of 7.8% (p=0.383, Table 1). Overall, this experiment suggests a trend that diets supplemented with Algamune™ may improve piglet ADG and FCR, but more work is required to determine the optimal dose and validate any performance enhancements.
Keywords: β-glucan, nursery pigs, growth performance