Research: Oligosaccharide supplement in weanling pigs improves lymphocyte concentration and suppresses diarrhea

The study was conducted to investigate effects of supplementation with a chito-oligosaccharide (COS) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics and diarrhea incidence in weanling pigs.

Methods

A total of 120 Landrace × Yorkshire–Duroc pigs (21 ± 1 d of age) with an average initial body weight of 7.10 ± 0.48 kg were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments, with six pens per treatment and five pigs per pen.

A maize–soybean meal-based diet was formulated as a basal diet. Experimental treatments included: 1) CON, basal diet; 2) ANT: basal diet + antibiotics (phase 1, 40 mg/kg avilamycin and 100 mg/kg oxytetracycline; phase 2 and phase 3, 40 mg/kg chlortetracyclinean and 100 mg/kg neomycin); 3) COS1, basal diet + 1 g/kg COS; and 4) COS2, basal diet + 2 g/kg COS.

The experiment consisted of three phases (d 0 to d 7, d 8 to d 21 and d 22 to d 42) and lasted 42 d.

Results

Improved growth performance and total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) only applied to the high inclusion level of COS (2 g/kg) (P < 0.05) and both performance and digestibility were lower (P < 0.05) than for the group supplemented with antibiotics.

However, lymphocyte concentration and appearance of the diarrhea decreased (P < 0.05) in response to supplementation of COS.

Conclusion

The results of the current study indicates that dietary supplementation with 2 g/kg COS enhanced growth performance and improved total tract apparent digestibility (TTAD) of of dry matter and nitrogen.