Effect Of Adding Acidifier On Contaminated Corn Diet On Growth Performance And Intestinal Health Of Weaned Piglets

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by molds,which widely exists in various feed ingredients and their processed products,and became one of the most serious threats to feed industry and animal husbandry.The object of this experiment is to investigate the effect of acidification agent on the growth performance,diarrhea rate and diarrhea index,blood biochemical index,internal organs index,anti-oxidation index,gastrointestinal contents,pH value and digestive enzyme activities,morphological structure and gut microbes in the gut flora of weaning piglet fed a mildew corn diet,explore if the acidulant could alleviate the damage of mycotoxin on weaned piglets.A total of 120(Duroc ×(Landrace × Yorkshire))piglets weaned at 28 days(initial weight 6.30±0.66kg)were randomly allotted into 4 dietary treatments(6 replicates per group and 5 piglets per replicate)and the trial lasted 56 days.The four treatment groups were the control group(basal diet),the antibiotic group(basal diet + 75 mg/kg chlortetracycline),the acidifier group(basal diet +1.85 g /kg acidifier),antibiotic + acidifier group(basal diet + 75 mg / kg chlortetracycline + 1.85 g / kg acidifier),the corn which used for experiment is natural contaminated.Blood samples were collected from the anterior vena cava at the 28 th and 56 th days of the experiment.At the end of this trial,one pig was selected form each replicate and sacrificed for samples collection to determine the relevant indicators.Results were shown as follow:1)Adding acidifiers and antibiotics into moldy corn diets had no significant effect on average daily feed intake and average daily gain of weaned pigs at 1-14 d,15-28 d,29-42 d,43-56 d and the whole experiment period(P>0.05).At 15-28 d,compared with the control group,the weight ratio of the acidifier group was significantly lower(P<0.05),which was equivalent to the antibiotic group.In other stages and the whole period of this experiment,there was no significant difference in the feed-gain ratio between all groups(P>0.05).Adding acidifiers and antibiotics into the diet can significantly reduce the diarrhea rate of weaned piglets at all stages and in the whole period(P<0.05).The diarrhea rate of antibiotic group,acidifier group and antibiotic + acidifier group were 44.98%,54.72% and 60.34% lower than the control group respectively in the whole period.Compared with the control group,the acidifier group and acidifier + antibiotic group also significantly decreased diarrhea index at all stage and the whole period(P<0.05).2)On the 28 th day of this experiment,the activities of serum aspartate aminotransferase,alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase in the acidifier group were significantly lower than those in the control group(P<0.05),and the concentration of IgM and IgG in serum were significantly increased(P<0.05).Compared with the antibiotic group,the content of blood urea nitrogen in the acidifier group was significantly lower(P<0.05).At the 56 th day of the experiment,serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities were significantly lower in the acidifier group than in the control group and the antibiotic group(P<0.05).The concentration of albumin and IgG in serum were significantly increased in the acidifier group compared with the control group(P<0.05).3)On the 28 th day of the experiment,serum catalase and total superoxide dismutase activity in the acidifier group were significantly increased compared with the control group(P<0.05);Compared with the antibiotic group,the activity of serum catalase in the acidifier group compared with the antibiotic group Vitality was significantly reduced(P<0.05).On the 56 th day,the addition of acidifier significantly increased the activity of serum total superoxide dismutase(P<0.05)and decreased the content of peroxidized product malondialdehyde in serum(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,antibiotic group can increase the serum glutathione peroxidase,catalase and total superoxide dismutase activity to some extent(P>0.05).4)Compared with the control group,the spleen index,kidney index and liver index of the acidifier group were significantly lower(P<0.05).There was a certain decrease of the spleen index,kidney index and liver index in acidifier group compared with the antibiotic group,but the difference was not significant(P>0.05).5)The pH of gastric contents in the acidifier group was significantly lower than that in the control group and the antibiotic group(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the pH of the gastrointestinal contents between the antibiotic group and the control group(P>0.05).Compared with the control group,the activities of pepsin,amylase and trypsin were significantly increased in acidifier group(P<0.05).The acidifier group showed higher pepsin activity than antibiotic group(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference in amylase,lipase and trypsin activity between the two groups(P>0.05).6)Compared with the control group,the acidifier group significantly increased the villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in duodenal and jejunal of weaned piglets(P<0.05);Compared with the antibiotic group,the villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth was significantly increased in duodenal of acidifier group(P<0.05).Compared with the control group,the number of ileal Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens was significantly decreased in the acidifier group(P<0.05),and the ileal bifidobacterium increased(P=0.068).In summary,this experiment shows that supplement with 1.85g/kg acidifier in contaminated corn diet could improve the immune function of weaned piglets by reduced the diarrhea rate and diarrhea index,it can also improve the morphological structure of duodenum and jejunum,and increase the antioxidant capacity,relieve liver and pancreas damage,reduce the number of harmful bacteria in the ileum and colon,change the intestinal microflora and maintained the intestinal health of piglets,improve the growth performance of weaned piglets.