Premium
Dietary L‐Trp supplementation affects growth and stress responses of nursery pigs
Author(s) -
Shen Yanbin,
Voilque Gwendoline,
Kim Sung Woo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.109.6
Subject(s) - tryptophan , medicine , endocrinology , meal , chemistry , serotonin , urea , zoology , biology , biochemistry , amino acid , receptor
Tryptophan (Trp) as a precursor of serotonin can affect serotonin activity in mediating stress. This study was to determine the optimal supplementation level of L‐Trp maximizing the biological benefits on growth and stress responses. Pigs (n = 72) at 6 wk of age were housed individually and allotted to 6 treatments (n = 12) representing supplementation of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, or 1.0% L‐Trp to corn‐soybean meal based diets fed for 15 d. Collection of BW, saliva, and blood were done on d 5, 10, and 15. On d 15, all pigs were euthanized to obtain hypothalamus. During the first 5 d, growth of pigs was improved (P < 0.05) when fed with 0.6 and 0.8% L‐Trp compared with pigs without L‐Trp. During the entire 15 d, pigs with 0.8% L‐Trp tended to grow faster (P = 0.099) than pigs without L‐Trp (537 vs 446 g/d, respectively). Pigs with L‐Trp had reduced (P < 0.05) salivary cortisol (1.7 ng/mL) and malonedialdehyde in plasma and hypothalamus (15.0 μM and 60.5 μmol/g protein) compared with pigs without L‐Trp (2.6 ng/mL, 20.9 μM, and 87.2 μmol/g protein, respectively). Pigs with 0.6 and 0.8% L‐Trp had reduced (P < 0.05) plasma urea nitrogen (6.2 and 5.7 mg/dL) compared with pigs without L‐Trp (8.0 mg/dL). Overall, dietary L‐Trp supplementation improved growth, whereas reduced stress hormone secretion, and systemic and hypothalamic oxidative stress in pigs. These beneficial effects were maximized at 0.8% L‐Trp supplementation. Grant Funding Source: CJ Bio, Inc