Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Lactobacillus plantarum on Growth Performance and Serum Concentration of Amino Acids in Weaned Piglets

This study investigated the effects of different doses of Lactobacillus plantarum on growth performance and serum concentration of amino acids in weaned piglets. A total of 32 piglets [(Yorkshire x Landrace) x Duroc], with an initial BW of 5.6 +/- 0.31 kg and weaned at 21d of age, were used for 28d. Pigs were assigned to four experimental treatments with eight replications per treatment and one pig per replication according to a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of a control group fed with basal alone (T0), Lactobacillus plantarum at 10(11) cfu kg(-1) (T1), Lactobacillus plantarum at 5x10(11) cfu kg(-1) (T2), and Lactobacillus plantarum at 10X10(11) cfu kg(-1) (T3). Supplementation of Lactobacillus plantarum, increased the final BW (P<0.05) and average daily gain (ADG), and decreased (P<0.05) feed:gain ratio and diarrhoea rate compared with the control group (T0). Also, T2 showed the better results on final BW, ADG and diarrhoea rate (P<0.05) compared to other treatments with Lactobacillus plantarum. Likewise, supplementation of Lactobacillus plantarum (mainly the T2) increased (P<0.05) the serum concentrations of lysine, arginine, serine, glutamate, glycine and alanine, and decreased (P<0.05) the concentration of tyrosine; the other amino acids remained similar among the dietary groups. These findings show a beneficial effect of dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus plantarum at 5x10(11) cfu kg(-1) on growth performance and the serum concentration of some essentials amino acids and non-essentials in weaned piglets.