Níveis de ácido fólico em dietas contendo ácido fórmico para leitões de 21 a 48 dias de idade

Abstract

A trial was conduced with to evaluate the levels of folic acid in diets supplemented with formic acid for piglets from 21 to 48 days old. 160 crossbred piglets were used with initial average weight of 5.67 ± 0,90 kg in a completely randomized experimental block design, with five treatments, eight replications of four animals each. Two basal diets with increasing formic acid levels (0.24 and 0.20%) were formulated (pre-starter I = from 21 to 35 days old and pre-starter II = from 36 to 48 days old) to meet the animal nutritional requirements. The treatments consisted of five dietary levels of folic acid: 0, 0.30, 0.60, 0.90, and 1.20 mg/kg. Piglets performance was evaluated at three periods: from 21 to 35 days, from 36 to 48 days and from 21 to 48 days. At 49th day, animals were fasted and blood samples of eight piglets from each treatment were collected for folate quantification. No effect of dietary levels of folic acid on daily average feed intake was observed in the analyzed periods. Increasing folic acid levels increased quadractlyaverage daily weight gain and affected feed:gain ratio only from 21 to 35 days. Hematocrit, hemoglobin and red blood cell values increased linearly with increasing folic acid levels. Serum folate values decreased as dietary folic acid levels increased. Diets with formic acid for piglets from 21 to 48 days old should be supplemented with 0.64 mg of folic acid per kg of diet. © 2006 Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia.