Effect of different doses of camelina cake inclusion as a substitute of dietary soybean meal on growth performance and gut health of weaned pigs

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different doses of CAM in substitution of soybean meal on the growth, health and gut health of weaned pigs. At 14 days post-weaning (d0), 64 piglets were assigned either to a standard diet or to a diet with 4%, 8% or 12% of CAM. Piglets were weighed weekly. At d7 and d28, faeces were collected for microbiota and polyamine and blood for reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) and thyroxine analysis. At d28, pigs were slaughtered; organs were weighed, pH was recorded on gut, colon was analysed for volatile fatty acid (VFAs) and jejunum was used for morphological and gene expression analysis. Data analysis was carried out using a mixed model including diet, pen and litter as factors; linear and quadratic contrasts were tested. CAM linearly reduced the average daily gain from d0-d7, d0-d14, d0-d21and d0-d28 (P≤0.01). From d0-d7 increasing CAM linearly decreased feed intake (P=0.04) and increased linearly the feed to gain (P=0.004). CAM increased linearly the liver weight (P<0.0001) and affected the cadaverine (P<0.001). The diet did not affect the ROMs, thyroxine, intestinal pH, VFAs and morphology. All doses of CAM increased the alpha diversity indices at d28 (P<0.05). CAM at 4% promoted the abundance of Butyricicoccaceae_UCG-008. Feeding with CAM enhanced resilience in the gut microbiome and can be evaluated as a potential alternative protein source with dose-dependent limitations on piglet growth performance.PMID:38606551 | DOI:...
Source: The British Journal of Nutrition - Category: Nutrition Authors: Source Type: research