Effect of dietary β-glucan supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and characteristics of feces in weaned pigs

15Citations
Citations of this article
27Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

A total of 150 crossbred weaned pigs [(Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc] with an average body weight of 6.75 ± 0.49 kg were used in a 6-wk trial to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of β-glucan on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and characteristics of feces (fecal score, microbiota, moisture, and pH) in weaned pigs. The corn-soybean meal based dietary treatments included: 1) antibiotic (30 ppm Tiamulin), 2) 0% β-glucan, 3) 0.1% β-glucan, 4) 0.2% β-glucan, and 5) 0.4% β-glucan. Dietary supplementation with β-glucan resulted in no significant differences in growth performance, nutrient digestibility, or characteristics of feces compared with that of Tiamulin supplementation. Pigs fed β-glucan exhibited a linearly increasing average daily gain and feed/gain ratio. Dietary supplementation of β-glucan linearly increased apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter and energy during 1–14 and 1–42 d as dietary β-glucan increased from 0.1 to 0.4%. In addition, pigs fed β-glucan had linearly decreasing coliform bacterial counts. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with β-glucan from rice bran improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility and coliform bacteria in weaned pigs, and β-glucan had the same effect as Tiamulin supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and characteristics of feces. Thus, we suggest that β-glucan from rice bran can be used as an alternative to antibiotics, and will improve productivity of weaned pigs.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Park, J. H., Lee, S. I., & Kim, I. H. (2018). Effect of dietary β-glucan supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and characteristics of feces in weaned pigs. Journal of Applied Animal Research, 46(1), 1193–1197. https://doi.org/10.1080/09712119.2018.1481855

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free