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A total of 84 piglets weaned at 17 ± 1 day were randomly allocated into 4 treatments including a positive control (PC) containing antibiotic, a negative control (NC) containing no RPS or antibiotics, a negative control + 7% RPS and a negative control + 14% RPS. All the diets contained 10% pea protein isolate which was included as a nutritional stress treatment to induce diarrhoea. The DNA was extracted from the ileum and colon contents. Body weight and feed disappearance were monitored throughout the study to calculate ADG, ADFI and G:F. The severity of diarrhoea was measured by using a fecal consistency scoring system. After week 3 the pig with a BW closest to the mean pen was killed to evaluate ileal and colonic mucosal-attached Escherichia coli and lactic acid bacteria as well as digesta samples for measurement of PH, VFA and ammonia N concentrations.
Higher ADFI was observed for the animals fed the PC and 14% RPS diets (P<0.05) than those piglets fed the 7% RPS diet. Higher G:F (P<0.05) was also observed for the animals fed the PC and 7% RPS diets, and least with the 14% RPS diet. Greater faecal score (P<0.05) was observed for those animals fed the NC diet compared with all other treatments during the first week of experiment. Ileal lactic acid concentration was higher (P<0.05) for the 14% RPS diet. Diets containing RPS had greater (P<0.05) ileum digesta ammonia N concentrations than diets without RPS. Starch content in the ileum was lower (P<0.05) for the PC fed pigs, but was almost 4-fold greater (P<0.05) for the 14% RPS fed pigs. In contrast, the starch content in the colon was least (P<0.05) for the 14% RPS fed pigs. No effects were observed on the colon lactic acid bacterial counts due to the experimental treatments, however the PC diet had decreased (P<0.05) colon E.coli counts respect to the other treatments.
It is concluded that 7% RPS can be used to prevent postweaning diarrhoea in weaned piglets, but without any effect on growth performance.
SK Bhandari, CM Nyachoti and DO Krause. Journal of Animal Science 2009, 87: 984-993.
