Levan-type fructan improved growth performance and nutrient digestibility of weaner pigs

As possible alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, prebiotics have shown positive effects on growth performance and gut health of weaner pigs (LeMieux et al. 2003). Levan-type fructan is a homopolymer of fructose linked by the β-2, 6 fructofuranosidic bonds. It is considered to be a prebiotic with health- and growth- promoting effects in pigs (Zhao et al. 2013; Zhang and Kim 2014). The information on supplementation with different doses of levan-type fructan in weaner pigs is still scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different dose levels of levan-type fructan on growth performance, digestibility, and blood characteristics in weaner pigs.

A total of 144 weaner pigs ((Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc) with an average bodyweight (BW) of 7.92 ± 0.86 kg were randomly allocated to four experimental diets with six replicate pens per treatment based on initial BW and sex (three barrows and three gilts per pen) for a 6-week experiment. Dietary treatments were basal diets supplemented with 0%, 0.01%, 0.05%, and 0.10% levan-type fructan (RealBioTech Co., Daejeon, South Korea). Individual pig BW and feed consumption on a pen basis were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain to feed ratio (G : F). Chromic dioxide marker (0.2%) was added to feed from d 36 to d 42 to estimate the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and gross energy (GE). At the end of this experiment, blood samples were randomly collected via jugular venipuncture from two pigs (one gilt and one barrow) from each pen. Serum was harvested from centrifugation at 3000g for 15 min at 4°C and concentrations of calcium, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine were determined using an automatic blood analyser (Technicon RA-1000; Bayer, Tarrytown, NY, USA). Serum iron concentration was determined using an automatic blood analyser (Hitachi 747, Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). All experimental data were analysed using linear and quadratic contrasts (SAS v9, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The results are shown in Table 1.

Average daily gain and ADFI as well as ATTD of DM, CP, and GE linearly increased when pigs were fed increased levels of levan-type fructan (P < 0.05). Fructan linearly increased the concentrations of calcium and iron in serum (P < 0.05).

The results indicated that levan-type fructan could be a prebiotic to enhance growth performance, nutrient digestibility and improve the absorption of calcium and iron in weaner pigs.

Table 1.  Effects of levan-type fructan on growth performance, digestibility, and blood characteristics