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Dietary supplementation with Chinese herbal powder enhances ileal digestibilities and serum concentrations of amino acids in young pigs

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Abstract

This study was designed to determine the effect of ultra-fine Chinese herbal powder as a dietary additive on serum concentrations and apparent ileal digestibilities (AID) of amino acids (AA) in young pigs. In Experiment 1, 60 Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to one of three treatments, representing supplementation with 0 or 2 g/kg of the powder, or 0.2 g/kg of colistin (an antibiotic) to corn- and soybean meal-based diets (n = 20 per group). Blood samples from five piglets per group were collected on days 7, 14, and 28 to determine serum AA concentrations. In Experiment 2, 12 barrows with an average initial body weight of 7.64 kg were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatments, followed by surgical placement of a simple T-cannula at the terminal ileum. All of the diets contained 0.1% titanium oxide as a digestibility marker. The samples of terminal ileal digesta were collected on day 7 for determining AID of AA. Results show that dietary supplementation with the herbal powder increased (P < 0.05) serum concentrations and AID of most AA by 10–50% and 10–16%, respectively. As an indicator of improved intestinal function, AID values of calcium were also enhanced in piglets supplemented with the herbal powder. Dietary supplementation of colistin increased serum concentrations and AID values of some AA by 8–44% and 10–15%, respectively, in comparison with the non-supplemented group. These novel findings demonstrate that the herbal powder can enhance the digestibility of dietary protein and the intestinal absorption of AA into the systemic circulation in post-weaning pigs, therefore providing a new mechanism for its growth- and immunity-promoting efficacy.

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Abbreviations

AA:

Amino acids

AID:

Apparent ileal digestibilities

CP:

Crude protein

NO:

Nitric oxide

UCH:

Ultra-fine Chinese herbal

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by grants from ISA Young Scholar Project (ISACX- LYQY-QN-0703), National Basic Research Program of China (2004CB117502), K.C. Wang Education Foundation of Hong Kong, National 863 project (2008AA10Z316), NSFC (30528006, 30671517, 30700581, 30771558 and 30371038), National Scientific and Technological Supporting Project (2006BAD12B07 and 2006BAD12B02-5-2), the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Knowledge Innovation Project (KZCX3-SW-441, YW-N-022, and KSCX2-SW323), Program for Hubei Chu Tian Scholars, Funds of Agricultural Science and Technology Outcome Application Project (2006GB24910468), Hunan Project (2007FJ1003); Guangdong Province Project (2006B200330005), Program for Ganjiang Scholars and Innovative University Research Team (65292 and IRT0540), the Outstanding Overseas Chinese Scholars Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2005-1-4), and the Texas AgriLife Research (H-8200).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Metabolism and Regulation, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 410125, Changsha, Hunan, China

    X. F. Kong, Y. L. Yin, Q. H. He, F. G. Yin, H. J. Liu, T. J. Li, R. L. Huang, M. M. Geng & G. Wu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 330047, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

    X. F. Kong, Y. L. Yin, Z. Ruan, Z. Y. Deng & M. Y. Xie

  3. Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    G. Wu

  4. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China

    Q. H. He, F. G. Yin & T. J. Li

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  1. X. F. Kong
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  2. Y. L. Yin
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  3. Q. H. He
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  4. F. G. Yin
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  5. H. J. Liu
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  6. T. J. Li
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  7. R. L. Huang
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  8. M. M. Geng
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  9. Z. Ruan
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  10. Z. Y. Deng
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  11. M. Y. Xie
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  12. G. Wu
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Correspondence to Y. L. Yin or G. Wu.

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Kong, X.F., Yin, Y.L., He, Q.H. et al. Dietary supplementation with Chinese herbal powder enhances ileal digestibilities and serum concentrations of amino acids in young pigs. Amino Acids 37, 573–582 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-008-0176-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-008-0176-9

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