Effect of dietary supplemental medium chain fatty acids instead of antibiotics on the growth performance, digestibility and blood profiles in growing pigs

Antibiotics have great functions in farm animal. However, the harm of antibiotics can't be ignored. The effects of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) supplementation to basal diet instead of antibiotics (CSP, Chlortetracycline, sulphonamide dimethazine and procaine penicillin, 1:1:1) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood profile in growing pigs were studied. A total of 140 growing pigs (Landrace x Yorkshire x Duroc) with an average body weight of 27.84 +/- 0.42 kg were allotted to four treatments of seven replicates/treatment and five pigs/replicate. The four experimental diets included: CON (basal diet, non-antibiotic, negative control); CSP (CON + CSP 0.1%, positive control); M1 (CON + MCFA 0.15%) and M2 (CON + MCFA 0.3%). After 5 weeks, the fresh faecal and blood samples were collected from rectum and jugular vein respectively. The average daily gain (ADG) was significantly improved for pigs fed 0.3% MCFAs in relation to basal diet. Meanwhile, CSP supplementation had comparable effect on ADG. The lymphocyte percentage and IgG concentration were higher in blood of pigs-fed MCFAs in relation to that of CON and CSP treatment while white blood cell and red blood cell were not affected. In relation to basal diet and CSP treatment, the digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen and gross energy (E) were unaffected with MCFAs supplementation. In conclusion, MCFAs improved growth performance on body weight gain and immune profile. Addition 0.3% MCFAs into the diet indicated that its partial positive effect as an alternative to antibiotic.