Effect of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) wood tannins and organic acids on growth performance and faecal microbiota of pigs from 23 to 127 days of age

D. Škorjanc, J. Dolinšek, A. Cencič, M. Brus

Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the supplementation of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) tannin and/or organic acids in diets for pigs on their growth performance and the faecal microbial composition from 23 to 127 days of age. The dietary treatments consisted of a basal diet (control (C)), the basal diet added organic acids (OA), and the basal diet added organic acids plus tannin (OA+T). Animals were weighed on days 23, 82 and 127. Pigs fed the OA and OA+T diets showed during the grower period significantly higher daily gain (ADG)(P<0.05), improved feed conversion ratio(FCR) (P<0.05) and lower levels of E. coli (P<0.05) compared with C pigs. From 82-127 days only the pigs fed the OA+T diet significantly diminished (P<0.05) the total count of E. coli. (5.21 ± 0.24 vs. 4.86 ± 0.28 vs. 4.24 ± 0.28 log10cfu/g; respectively for C, OA and OA+T; P<0.05), elevated the total count of Lactic acid bacteria (6.85 ± 0.10 vs. 7.15 ± 0.49 vs. 7.95 ± 0.50 log10cfu/g; respectively for C, OA and OA+T; P<0.05) and significantly increased ADG (P<0.05) (687 ± 23 vs. 712 ± 11 vs. 766 ± 12 g/day; respectively for C, OA and OA+T; P<0.05). The results from the present study indicate that the supplementation of chestnut wood tannins and organic acids can improve the growth performance in period from 82-127 days mainly by reducing harmful E. coli counts and by increasing counts of beneficial Lactic acid bacteria.

Keywords: growth; microbiota; pig; tannins (Castanea sativa Mill.)

Date published: 2019-02-20