Intestinal development of early-weaned piglets receiving diets supplemented with selected amino acids or polyamines

Early-weaned piglets are subjected to various environmental and nutritional stresses that can result in overall poor performance. Several amino acids associated with the urea cycle have been shown to be critical to intestinal development and metabolism. The objective of this research was to examine performance and intestinal development in early-weaned piglets receiving diets supplemented with selected amino acids or polyamines. Forty-two Yorkshire piglets (3.94 ± 0.43 kg) weaned at ~12.5 d were randomly assigned to diets supplemented with either arginine, glutamate, citrulline, ornithine or polyamines, at levels of 0.93, 6.51, 0.94, 0.90 and 0.39%, respectively. Diets were fed for 12 d and various parameters to assess growth and intestinal development were measured. Glutamate supplementation enhanced both total and mucosal growth in several sections of the small intestine (P < 0.05), whereas polyamines were detrimental to intestinal growth. Arginine and glutamate supplementation prevented weaning-induced villus atrophy in the duodenum, compared with both the control and polyamine-fed pigs (P = 0.004). These results indicate that glutamate and arginine supplementation may enhance intestinal development of the early-weaned piglet, whereas polyamine supplementation at the ratios and concentrations used in this experiment is not recommended in typical early-weaned piglet diets

Intestinal development of early-weaned piglets receiving diets supplemented with amino acids or polyamines

The objectives of this research were to distinguish between the changes in intestinal development caused by alterations in diet composition, from those that occur naturally with age, and to examine performance and intestinal development in early-weaned piglets receiving diets supplemented with selected amino acids or polyamines. The first experiment indicated that early-weaning increased the intestinal growth potential in the young piglet. In the second experiment, piglets (3.94 $\pm$ 0.43 kg) weaned at $\sim$12.5 d were randomly assigned diets supplemented with either arginine, glutamate, citrulline, ornithine or polyamines. Glutamate supplementation enhanced both total and mucosal growth in several sections of the small intestine (p $<$ 0.05), whereas polyamines were detrimental to intestinal growth. Arginine and glutamate supplementation prevented villus atrophy in the duodenum compared to both the control and polyamine-fed pigs (p = 0.004). These results indicate that glutamate and arginine supplementation may enhance intestinal development of the early-weaned piglet

Inclusion of glutamine associated with glutamic acid in the diet of piglets weaned at 21 days of age

The effects of dietary inclusion levels of the association of glutamine with glutamic acid (AminoGut: AmG) on the performance, gastrointestinal morphophysiology, and diarrhea incidence of piglets weaned at 21 days of age were evaluated. In the experiment, 120 piglets with 6.24 ± 1.00 kg initial weight were distributed according to a randomized block experimental design into five treatments with six replicates of four animals each. The following treatments were applied: negative control diet (0% AmG); 0.5% AmG; 1.0% AmG; 1.5% AmG; positive control diet (0% AmG, 4% inclusion of porcine plasma). The inclusion of 1.0% AmG, as compared to the positive control diet, improved weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The lowest diarrhea score was observed when 1.0% AmG was included, whereas the best villus height and villus:crypt ratio were obtained with the inclusion of 0.82% AmG. Villus height, crypt depth, and villus:crypt ratio values obtained with 1.0% AmG were similar to those obtained with the positive control diet, except in the period of 21 to 28 days, when the diet with 1.0% AmG promoted higher villus:crypt ratio. The supplementation of 0.5 and 1.0% AmG affected organ weights, and reduced digestive content pH in the pylorus and in the ileum relative to the positive control diet. The dietary supplementation of 1% glutamine associated with glutamic acid improves the performance and the morphophysiology of piglets weaned at 21 days of age