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The effects of mushroom powder and vitamin D 2 ‐enriched mushroom powder supplementation on the growth performance and health of newly weaned pigs
Author(s) -
Conway Eadaoin,
Sweeney Torres,
Dowley Alison,
Maher Shane,
Rajauria Gaurav,
Yadav Supriya,
Wilson Jude,
Gabrielli William,
O’Doherty John V.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/jpn.13614
Subject(s) - mushroom , weaning , zoology , vitamin , litter , nutrient , food science , biology , feed conversion ratio , randomized block design , vitamin c , body weight , biochemistry , endocrinology , ecology , horticulture , agronomy
A complete randomised block design experiment was conducted to examine the effects of mushroom powder (MP) and vitamin D 2 ‐enriched mushroom powder (MPD 2 ) on growth performance, faecal scores, coefficient of apparent total tract digestibility (CATTD) of nutrients and selected microflora in weaned pigs up to day 35 post‐weaning. One hundred and ninety‐two weaned pigs (7.8kg [SD 1.08kg]) were blocked according to live weight, sex and litter of origin and randomly assigned to the following: (T1) control diet; (T2) control diet +MP; (T3) control diet + MPD 2 ; and (T4) control diet +zinc oxide (ZnO) (n = 12 replicates/treatment). Mushroom powders were included at 2 g/kg of feed achieving a β‐glucan content of 200ppm. ZnO was included at 3100 mg/kg feed and halved to 1550 mg/kg after 21 days. Vitamin D content was enhanced in MPD 2 using synthetic UVB exposure to obtain a vitamin D 2 level of 100 µg/kg of feed. Faecal samples were collected on day 14 for microbial and nutrient digestibility analysis. There was no difference ( p > 0.05) in ADG, G:F, faecal scores, microbial populations and CATTD of nutrients in pigs supplemented with MP or MPD 2 compared with the control diet. The supplementation of MP and MPD 2 caused a reduction ( p < 0.05) in feed intake compared with the control and ZnO diet throughout the 35‐day experimental period. ZnO supplementation increased ADG and ADFI ( p < 0.05) during the first period (D0‐21) compared with pigs offered MP and MPD 2 . In conclusion, MP and MPD 2 supplementation resulted in similar ADG, G:F, faecal scores compared with the control but were not comparable to ZnO, mainly due to a reduction in feed intake.