Impact of artificial colostrum supplement on the growth performance and blood profile in piglets Sampath Vetriselvi1, Han Kyudong1,2, Kim In Ho1,* Department of Animal Resource and Science, Dankook UniversityCheonan-31116, Republic of South Korea 1Department of Microbiology, College of Science & Technology, Dankook University, Cheonan-31116, Republic of South Korea 2Center for Bio Medical Engineering Core Facility, Dankook University, Cheonan-31116, Republic of South Korea *Corresponding author: inhokim@dankook.ac.kr
Online Published on 28 November, 2022. Abstract Sampath, V., Han, K. and Kim, I.H. 2022. Impact of artificial colostrum supplement on the growth performance and blood profile in piglets. Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology, 22: 665–671. The study aims to examine the effect of artificial colostrum (AC) supplement on growth performance and blood profiles of piglets. A total of 15 multiparous sows (Landrace x Yorkshire) and their 193 progenies (initial body weight 1.38 kg) were used in a sixty-three-days trial. The designated nutritional supplements were: CON: fed only sow milk (SM), TRT1: SM + AC (once a day), and TRT2: SM+AC (twice a day) offered to piglets, while sows were fed with commercial gestation and lactation diets. TRT2 group piglets showed a tendency to linearly increased body weight at week 1 (P=0.063), weaning (P=0.001), and the end of the experiment (P=0.024). Moreover, the average daily gain was linearly increased in TRT2 group at week1, weaning, and the overall trial period (P=0.006, 0.005, and 0.022, respectively). In addition, piglets nourished AM twice a day along with SM showed higher lymphocyte count and IgG concentration at week 1 and at weaning (P=0.020, 0.055, and 0.014, 0.017, respectively). In summary, we infer that the providing artificial colostrum to piglets twice a day along with SM would be beneficial to enhance their performance at post weaning stage. Top Keywords Artificial milk, Growth performance, Immunoglobulin, Piglets. Top |