Amino acid fortified diets for weanling pigs replacing fish meal and whey protein concentrate:Effects on growth,immune status,and gut health

Background： Limited availability of fish meal and whey protein concentrate increases overall feed costs. Availability of increased number of supplemental amino acids including Lys, Met, Thr, Trp, Val, and lie allows replacing expensive protein supplements to reduce feed costs. This study was to evaluate the effect of replacing fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate in nursery diets with 6 supplemental amino acids on growth performance and gut health of post-weaning pigs. Treatments were 1） FM-WPC： diet with fish meal （FM） and whey protein concentrate （WPC）; 2） FM-AA： diet with FM and crystalline amino acids （L-Lys, L-Thr, L-Trp, DL-Met, L-Val, and L-lie）; 3） WPC-AA： diet with WPC and crystalline amino acid; and 4） AA： diet with crystalline amino acid. Results： Pigs in FM-AA, WPC-AA, and AA had greater （P 〈 0.0.5） ADG and gain：feed than pigs in FM-WPC during wk ] （phase 1）. Plasma insulin concentration of pigs in AA tended to be greater （P = 0.064） than that of FM-WPC at the end of wk 1 （phase 1）. Plasma concentrations of IgG in AA was lower （P 〈 0.05） compared with WPC-AA and FW, and FM-AA had lower （P 〈 0.05） IgG concentration than WPC-AA at the end of wk 1 （phase 1）. Concentration of acetate in cecum digesta in FM-AA tended to be greater （P = 0.054） than that of FM-WPC and WPC-AA. Concentration of isovalerate in cecum digesta of pigs in FM-AA was greater （P 〈 0.05） than that of FW and WPC-AA. Conclusions： This study indicates that use of 6 supplemental amino acids can replace fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate without adverse effects on growth performance, immune status, and gut health of pigs at d 21 to 49 of age. Positive response with the use of 6 supplemental amino acids in growth during the first week of post-weaning may due to increased plasma insulin potentially improving uptake of nutrients for protein synthesis and energy utilization. The replacement of fish meal and/or whey protein concentrate with 6 supplemental amino acids could decrease the crude protein level in nursery diets, and potentially lead to substantial cost savings in expensive nursery diets.

Fecal microbial diversity and putative function in captive western lowland gorillas(Gorilla gorilla gorilla),common chimpanzees(Pan troglodytes),Hamadryas baboons(Papio hamadryas)and binturongs(Arctictis binturong)

Microbial populations in the gastrointestinal tract contribute to host health and nutrition.Although gut microbial ecology is well studied in livestock and domestic animals,little is known of the endogenous populations inhab­iting primates or carnivora.We characterized microbial populations in fecal cultures from gorillas(Gorilla go­rilla gorilla),common chimpanzees(Pan troglodytes),Hamadryas baboons(Papio hamadryas)and binturongs(Arctictis binturong)to compare the microbiomes associated with different gastrointestinal morphologies and different omnivorous feeding strategies.Each species was fed a distinct standardized diet for 2 weeks prior to fecal collection.All diets were formulated to reflect the species’feeding strategies in situ.Fresh fecal samples were pooled within species and used to inoculate in vitro batch cultures.Acetate,propionate,butyrate and val­erate were measured after 24 h of incubation.Eubacterial DNA was extracted from individual fecal samples,pooled,and the cpn60 gene region was amplified and then sequenced to identify the major eubacterial constit­uents associated with each host species.Short chain fatty acids(P<0.001)and methane(P<0.001)were sig­nificantly different across species.Eubacterial profiles were consistent with fermentation data and suggest an in­crease in diversity with dietary fiber.