A total of 144 weaned crossed pigs were used in a 42-d trial to explore the effects of different concentrations/combinations of Benzoic acid and thymol on growth performance and gut characteristics in weaned pigs.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
Pigs were randomly allotted to 4 dietary treatments: i) control (C), basal diet, ii) C+1,000 mg/kg Benzoic acid+100 mg/kg thymol (BT1), iii) C+1,000 mg/kg Benzoic acid+200 mg/kg thymol (BT2) and, iv) C+2,000 mg/kg Benzoic acid+100 mg/kg thymol (BT3). Relative to the control, pigs fed diet BT3 had lower diarrhoea score during the overall period (p<0.10) and improved feed to gain ratio between days 1 to 14 (p<0.05), which was accompanied by improved apparent total tract digestibility of ether extract, Ca and crude ash (p<0.05), and larger lipase, lactase and sucrose activities in the jejunum (p<0.05) at d 14 and d 42. Similarly, relative to the control, pigs fed diet BT3 had higher counts for Lactobacillus spp in digesta of ileum at d 14 (p<0.05), and pigs fed diets BT1, BT2, or BT3 also had higher counts of Bacillus spp in digesta of caecum at d 14 (p<0.05), and lower concentration of ammonia nitrogen in digesta of caecum at d 14 and d 42 (p<0.05). Finally, pigs fed diet BT3 had higher concentration of butyric acid in digesta of caecum at d 42 (p<0.05), and a larger villus height:crypt depth ratio in jejunum and ileum at d 14 (p<0.05) than pigs fed the control diet.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, piglets fed diet supplementation with different concentrations/combinations of Benzoic acid and thymol could improve feed efficiency and diarrhoea, and improve gut microfloral composition. The combination of 2,000 mg/kg Benzoic acid+100 mg/kg thymol produced better effects than other treatments in most measurements. |
Cell. 2018 Jan 11;172(1-2):249-261.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.019.IF=36.216(2019)
Cell Metab. 2020 Mar 3;31(3):534-548.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.01.002.IF=22.415(2019)
Mol Cell. 2017 Nov 16;68(4):673-685.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2017.10.022.IF=14.548(2019)
ACS Nano. 2018 Apr 24;12(4): 3385-3396. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.7b08969.IF=13.903(2019)
Nature Plants. 2016 Dec 22;3: 16206. doi: 10.1038/nplants.2016.205.IF=13.297(2019)
Sci Adv. 2018 Oct 24;4(10): eaat6994. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat6994.IF=12.804(2019)