Study Of Plant Essential Oils On Breeding Sows And Weaned Piglets

Looking for new alternatives to feed antibiotics has become urgent at present because of the antibiotics continuous and over-dosage utilization,which caused lots of safety issues.Plant essential oils are one of the substitutes of antibiotics,which not only have a wide range of biological effects,but also widely available and inexpensive.Previous studies have shown that the combination of thymol and cinnamaldehyde has favorable effects on poultry.However,the effects of combination of thymol and cinnamaldehyde on sows and piglets are unknown.The present study was conducted to explore the effect of EO on the performance and corresponding indicators in sows and piglets which fed with corn-soybean based diet to provide reference for production.Exp.1 Effects of Dietary EO on the Performance,Immunity and Milk Composition of SowsA total of 24 healthy and 3～4 parity LY sows with the same body condition were consisted of 3 groups,1)NAF group,basal diet without antibiotic,2)AFT group,basal diet containing 100 mg/kg AFT,3)EO group,basal diet containing 200 mg/kg EO.Each group with 8 replicates.The whole trial is from 96d that the sow’s gestation to its weaned.The results showed as follows:（1）Dietary supplementation with EO had no significant effect on the growth performance of the sow,but the stillborn rate of EO group was decreased by71.4%,53.3%,respectively.And the weaning survival rate of piglets in EO group was increased relative to NAF and AFT group.（2）The levels of serum IgA in the EO group were higher than those in the NAF group on the 1st,14th,and 21st days of lactation（P<0.05）.（3）The whey IgG and IgM levels on the 14th day,the contents of whey IgG and milk fat on the 21st day of lactation in EO group were more than NAF and EO groups（P<0.05）.It follows that dietary EO has no effect on the production performance of sows,but it could improve the immunity and milk quality of lactating sow.Exp.2 Effects of Dietary EO on the Performance,Nutrient Digestibility,Blood and Intestinal Health of Weaning pigletsA total of 24 healthy DLY weaned pigs with 30d and the same body condition were consisted of 4 groups,1)CS group,basal diet containing 50mg/kg CS,2)EO_A group,basal diet containing 50 mg/kg EO,3)EO_B group,basal diet containing 100 mg/kg EO,4)EO_C group,basal diet containing 200 mg/kg EO.Each group with 6 replicates.The whole trial was last for 14 days.The results showed as follows:（1）ADG in EO_C group was higher than that in CS group（P<0.05）.（2）Compared with CS and EO_B,C groups,the digestibility of DM in EO_A group was induced（P<0.05）.（3）The red blood cell counts in EO_A,C groups and the MCHC in EO_B were higher than those in CS group（P<0.05）,but serum TG and MDA contents in EO_C group were lower than those in CS group（P<0.05）.However,the ALB of EO_C group was higher than other groups（P<0.05）,and the IgG of EO_C group was increased relative to CS and EO_A group（P<0.05）and its GSH activity was also higher than EO_A group,（P<0.05）.（4）The ileal villus height and EO_B,C groups ileal V/C values and their duodenal mucosal invertase activity in the EO_C group were higher than that in the CS group（P<0.05）.In addition,the activity of lactase in jejunum mucosa of EO_C group was higher than that of other groups（P<0.05）,and its sucrase activity was higher than that of the EO_A group（P<0.05）.（5）The mucosal MDA level and T-SOD activity of EO_C group in jejunum,and the GSH activity of EO groups in ileum were increased that relative to CS group（P<0.05）.Compared with CS and EO_A groups,the duodenal GSH activity was increased in EO_B,C groups（P<0.05）.And the OCLN mRNA of EO_B,_C groups in duodenal were higher than that of EO_A group（P<0.05）,the OCLN mRNA of EO_B,_C groups in ileum were more than CS group（P<0.05）.The number of total cecal bacteria in EO_B,C groups were increased that relative to EO_A group（P<0.05）;the number of colonic bacteria in EOC group was higher than that in EOA and CS groups（P<0.05）.These data indicated that piglets fed diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg EO improved growth performace,nutrient digestibility and antioxidant capacity,and improved the intestinal villi structure and microecological environment of weaned piglets.General conclusion:It follows that dietary EO has no effect on the production performance of sows,but it could improve the immunity and milk quality of lactating sow.The addition of the same level of the EO in weaned piglets improved growth performace,serum antioxidant capacity and the level of immune globulin,improved the intestinal health of weaned piglets.The results above confirmed that the plant essential oil has good application prospects in sows and weaned piglets.