427
Oral administration of amino acids as energy sources for newborn piglets
Amino acids may be a readily available source of energy, especially to young animals, promoting beneficial effects on performance, health and immune status. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of glutamine (Gln), glutamic acid (Glu), AminoGut (Amg) and Arginine (Arg) supplementation on performance and blood parameters. Fifty litters, selected based on genotype and parity, were distributed according to a Latin square. Within each litter, five piglets were chosen with body weights close to litter average. Treatments consisted of two intragastric applications of doses containing one of the following: Control: no supplementation; Gln: 2.89 g L-glutamine + 7 mL of water; Glu: 3.14 g L-glutamic acid + 10 mL of water; Amg: 3.19 g of the commercial mixture of L-glutamine and L-glutamic acid + 7 mL of water; Arg: 2.94 g L-glutamic acid + 8 mL of water. Doses were calculated based on energy needs of 10.95 kcal/pig/day (unpublished data). Piglets were supplemented with the first dose provided just after colostrum consumption and the second dose 24 hours after. Data from each response was analyzed using MIXED procedure in SAS software. Arg supplementation reduced (P<0.05) piglet’s body weight at 7 days and weaning. Other treatments did not affect the performance of piglets, even though piglets fed AminoGut numerically increased 4% weight weaning. Mortality was not affected by treatments. There were no treatment effects (P>0.05) in plasmatic levels of glucose, creatinine, urea, triglycerides, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase. Amino acid supplementation did not show significant variation in blood parameters and performance of newborn born piglets. Future studies should be conducted for the purposes of studying the supplementation of functional amino acids for newborn piglets.
Growth performance of piglets
| Amino acid | |||||||
| BW (kg) | Control | Glutamine | Acid Glutamic | AminoGut | Arginine | SEM | P-value |
| Birth | 1.41 | 1.39 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 0.01 | 0.575 |
| 7 days | 2.80ab | 2.68bc | 2.82ab | 2.86a | 2.52c | 0.06 | <0.01 |
| Weaning | 5.54a | 5.38a | 5.59a | 5.76a | 4.87b | 0.15 | <0.01 |
a,b,c Values within row with different superscripts differ, P < 0.05.
Keywords: Glutamine, Glutamic Acid, Arginine