Effects Of Artemisia Ordosica Aqueous Extract On Growth Performance, Immune And Antioxidative Function In Weaned Piglets

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different doses of Artemisia ordosica extract(AOE)on growth performance,immunity and antioxidant function of weaned piglets.A total of 72 weaned piglets(28 days of age)were randomly divided into 4 treatments with 6 replicates per treatment(half male and half female)and 3 weaned piglets per replicate.The four treatment groups were fed basal diet,basal diet + 250 mg/kg AOE,basal diet + 500 mg/kg AOE,and basal diet + 750 mg/kg AOE.The trial lasted for 28 days;feed and water were provided ad libitum.The results showed as follows:Experiment 1 was about the effects of AOE on growth performance.The results showed that,from d 14 to 28,with increasing addition of AOE in diets,the growth performance of ADFI decreased linearly(P=0.029).On d 14,DM,CP and Ca increased quadratically(P<0.01,P=0.034,P<0.01)with increasing addition of AOE in diets,and the apparent digestibility of P showed a significant increase in a linear or quadratic manner(P<0.01).On d 28,the apparent digestibility of DM and P was significantly increased quadratically(P=0.021,P=0.044);CP showed an extremely significant increase in linear or quadratic manner(P<0.01);the apparent digestibility of EE and Ca showed an extremely significant increase in a quadratic manner(P < 0.01).Experiment 2 was about the effect of AOE on immune functions in weaned piglets.The results showed that,with the increasing of AOE addition,on d 14,the concentrations of IL-1,IL-4,IL-6 and sCD8 showed a significant quadratic(P<0.01)increase;IL-1(P=0.064)and TNF-?(P=0.083)tended to increase linearly;IL-2,IgM and IgG increased linearly or quadratically(P<0.01).At the age of 28 days,the concentrations of IL-1,IL-4,IgM,IgA,IgG and sCD8 increased quadratically with increasing addition of AOE in diets(P<0.01);the concentration of TNF-? increased quadratically(P=0.036);IL-6 showed a linear or quadratic(P<0.01)increase;IL-2,IFN-? and sCD4 on d 28 had no significant dose-dependent effect with increasing dietary AOE supplementation.Experiment 3 was about the effect of AOE on antioxidative function in weaned piglets.With increasing addition of AOE in diets,on d 14,the level of CAT in serum of weaned piglets was increased quadratically(P=0.045),and T-AOC showed extremely significant quadratic increase(P < 0.01);on d 28,the level of CAT and SOD in serum was increased quadratically(P<0.01),and the activity of T-AOC in serum showed a quadratic(P=0.043)increase.In addition,MDA showed a significant linear(P<0.01)or quadratic(P<0.01)decrease during the experimental period.In conclusion,when adding AOE to diets of weaned piglets,the average daily weight gain of weaned piglets remained the same,but the average daily intake was decreased,and the antioxidant and immune functions of weaned piglets were improved.