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Effects of fermented garlic powder supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics and meat quality in growing‐finishing pigs
Author(s) -
YAN Lei,
MENG Qin W.,
KIM In H.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2011.00973.x
Subject(s) - marbled meat , zoology , dry matter , feed conversion ratio , loin , chemistry , food science , biology , body weight , endocrinology
One hundred pigs (BW = 50.7 ± 1.89 kg) were used to investigate the effects of fermented garlic powder (FGP) in growing‐finishing pigs. Pigs were allotted to one of five treatments, included: (i) NC (basal diet); (ii) PC (NC + 44 mg/kg of Tylosin); (iii) FGP1 (NC + 1 g/kg FGP); (iv) FGP2 (NC + 2 g/kg FGP); and (v) FGP4 (NC + 4 g/kg FGP). Supplemental FGP increased average daily gain (ADG) and gain/feed ratio compared with those fed NC diet throughout the experiment ( P < 0.05, linearly). Dietary PC treatment increased the ADG and average daily feed intake during the first 6 weeks ( P < 0.05). The inclusion of FGP2 and FGP4 treatments had higher apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen ( P < 0.05) than those in the NC treatment. Dietary NC treatment exhibited lower ( P < 0.05) lymphocyte count (6 and 12 weeks) and immunoglobulin G (12 weeks) than those in the other treatments. Marbling scores were higher ( P < 0.05) in FGP treatment groups than the NC treatments. Pigs fed on FGP2 and FGP4 diets evidenced lower 2‐thiobarbituric acid reactive substances value ( P < 0.05) than those in the NC and PC treatments. Collectively, our findings demonstrated that the administration of FGP at a level of 2 or 4 g/kg improved growth performance, nutrient digestibility and meat quality in growing‐finishing pigs.