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. 2021 Jan;63(1):104-113.
doi: 10.5187/jast.2021.e16. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Effects of microencapsulated organic acids on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbial counts, and blood profiles in weaning pigs

Jun Soeng Lee  1 , Tae Heon Kim  1 , Min Ho Song  2 , Han Jin Oh  1 , Won Yun  1 , Ji Hwan Lee  1 , Yong Ju Kim  1 , Byong Kon Lee  3 , Hyeun Bum Kim  4 , Jin Ho Cho  1
Affiliations

Effects of microencapsulated organic acids on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbial counts, and blood profiles in weaning pigs

Jun Soeng Lee et al. J Anim Sci Technol. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of a microencapsulated mixture of organic acids (MOA) with low protein in piglet feed on growth performance, diarrhea score, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbial counts, and blood profiles in weaning pigs. A total of 80 pigs [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc; 6.8 ± 0.48 kg] were randomly assigned to four dietary treatment groups: high protein (HP); low protein (LP); MOA1, LP + 0.2% MOA; and MOA2, LP + 0.3% MOA. The MOA2 group had higher average daily weight gains (during days 0-14 and days 0-28), diarrhea score (during days 0-14, during days 14-28 and days 0-28) and greater digestibility of dry matter (days 14 and 28) compared to the LP group (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the pigs fed diets with the MOA1 and MOA2 in blood profiles and fecal microflora. In conclusion, this study indicates that piglets fed 0.3% MOA in low protein diets maintained similar growth performance and nutrient digestibility, but alleviated the incidence of diarrhea compared to piglets fed high protein diets.

Keywords: Growth performance; Microencapsulation; Nutrient digestibility; Organic acids; Weaning pigs.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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