Vet World Vol.14 July-2021 Article-24
Research Article
Veterinary World, 14(7): 1894-1900
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1894-1900
Effects of medicinal plants mixture on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and fecal microbiota in growing pigs
2. University of Liège, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, FARAH Center, Department of Veterinary Management of Animal Resources, Quartier vallée 2, Avenue de Cureghem 6, B43a, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
3. Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Key Laboratory for Veterinary Biotechnology, Ngo Xuan Quang Street, Trauquy, Gia Lam, 100000 Hanoi, Vietnam.
Background and Aim: Alternative natural materials to antibiotics for improving digestive health and growth performance are needed due to strengthening regulations related to the use of antibiotic growth promoters. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of medicinal plants mixture (60% Bidens pilosa L., 15% Urena lobata L., 15% Pseuderanthemum palatiferum, 5% Ramulus cinnamomi, and 5% Star anise) as alternative growth promotors on animal health, nutrient digestibility, blood parameters, and growth performance of growing pigs.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted, from April 2020 to June 2020, at a private pig production farm located in Cam Giang district Hai Duong Province, Vietnam. Forty-eight 10-week-old crossbred (♂Duroc×♀ [Landrace×Yorkshire]) pigs, average initial body weight 30.3±1.42 kg, were randomly allocated to four dietary groups, three replicate pens per experimental group, with 4 pigs/pen. For 7 weeks, the pigs were fed a basal diet supplemented with the mixture at levels of 0, 20, 40, and 60 g/kg of feed.
Results: Final body weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio, as well as apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, and gross energy were not significantly influenced by the diets (p>0.05). Inclusion of the plant mixture decreased significantly red blood cell count, blood cholesterol, urea nitrogen, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) concentrations (p<0.05) compared with the control diet. No diet effect was observed on fecal Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Clostridium spp., and total bacteria counts.
Conclusion: The incorporation of the plant mixture into the diet of growing pigs reduced serum cholesterol, LDL, and urea concentrations with no adverse effect on performance and nutrient digestibility. Keywords: animal performance, blood profile, digestibility, growing pig, medicinal plants powder.
Keywords: animal performance, blood profile, digestibility, growing pig, medicinal plants powder.
How to cite this article: Oanh NC, Lam TQ, Tien ND, Hornick J-L, Ton VD (2021) Effects of medicinal plants mixture on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and fecal microbiota in growing pigs, Veterinary World, 14(7): 1894-1900.
Received: 03-03-2021 Accepted: 15-06-2021 Published online: 24-07-2021
Corresponding author: Nguyen Cong Oanh E-mail: ncoanh@gmail.com
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1894-1900
Copyright: Oanh, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.