Effects Of Ginger Root, Star Anise And Dan-shen Root On Growth, Carcass Performance And Antioxidant Status Of Laiwu Black Pigs

To investigate the effects of ginger root, star anise and dan-shen root on growth performance, nutrient utilization, carcass performance, antioxidant status and intestinal development of Laiwu black pigs.Tweenty-four weaned pigs at 70-day old were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 6 replicates in a complete randomized design. The 4 treatments were: 1) CTR: pigs were fed corn-soybean meal based diets; 2) GIN: CTR + 10 g/kg ginger; 3) SA: CTR + 5 g/kg star anise; 4) DS: CTR + 10 g/kg dan-shen. The experiment was divided into three phases: early growing stage(15~30 kg), late growing stage(30~60 kg) and fattening stage(60~90 kg), according to the weight of growing pigs. The experiment was composed of 7 days for primary test and 161 days for formal test.The results showed as follows: Comparing to CTR, supplementation of ginger, star anise and dan-shen increased(P < 0.05) the antioxidant status of Laiwu black pigs, backfat thickness, and concentrations of crude protein and ether extact, and reduced suet ratio, drip loss of meat, concentrations of moisture and E.coli in meat and cecum, respectively. The activity of lipase in ileum and jejunum were higher(P < 0.05) in GIN, but the activityof trypsin in ileum were higher(P < 0.05) in SA, and thickness and lean meat percentage in SA were higher(P < 0.05), but the quantity of lactobacillus was reduced in SA, compared to CTR. Dressing percentage was higher(P < 0.05), but the total cholesterol in serum and E.coli in cecum was lower(P < 0.05) in DS. In three additives, the drop loss of meat was significantly reduced(P < 0.05) with dietary of supplementation of ginger, the thickness and concentration of crude protein in meat was increased(P < 0.05), and the concentration of E.coli was reduced(P < 0.05) in SA.With dietary of supplementation of dan-shen, backfat thickness and concentration of lactic acid bacteria was increased(P < 0.05), but the concentration of E.coli was reduced(P < 0.05).In conclusion, dietary supplementation of 10 g/kg ginger root, 5 g/kg star anise and 10 g/kg dan-shen root can improve carcass performance, meat quality and caecal microflora, regulate the nutritional composition in muscle, increase antioxidant status and activities of digestive enzymes, and promote the excellent performance of growing pigs.