Objective: This study was to assess the effects of different doses of an essential oil blend (EOB) on growth performance, diarrhea occurrence (DO), hematological and blood biochemical profile, intestinal morphometry, morphology and microbiology, relative weight and length of organs, digestive content pH, and liver antioxidant status in weaning piglets.Methods: A total of 135 barrows (7.09±0.29 kg body weight) were allotted randomly in a randomized complete block design based on body weight with nine replications and three animals per pen. Dietary treatments were a negative control (NC): basal diet; positive control (PC): NC plus 125 mg performance-enhancing antibiotic (enramycin 8%)/kg diet; NC plus 100 mg EOB/kg diet (EO100); NC plus 200 mg EOB/kg diet (EO200); and NC plus 400 mg EOB/kg diet (EO400). Diarrhea occurrence was monitored daily, and performance at the end of each phase.Results: Gain to feed ratio was greater (p<0.05) in starter II pigs fed EO400 and EO200 than in those fed EO100. Pigs fed EO400 had lower (p<0.05) DO than those fed NC and EO100 in the total period. Pre-starter II pigs fed NC had (p<0.05) lower serum total protein and plasma protein than pigs fed PC. Pigs fed EO100 showed smaller (p<0.05) mean corpuscular volume (MCV) than pigs fed EO400. Starter II pigs fed EO400 had (p<0.05) greater MCV and lower mean corpuscular hemoglobin and erythrocytes than those fed EO100. There was a greater concentration (p<0.05) of band cells for PC, similar to EO400 and EO200. Performance-enhancing antibiotic and EOB to diets increased (p<0.05) liver superoxide dismutase activity.Conclusion: Adding 200 and 400 mg EOB/kg diet decreased DO and was advantageous to hematological and blood biochemical profile and liver antioxidant status without being detrimental to growth performance and gastrointestinal health in nursery pigs.

The aim of this study was to assess the addition of intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) to diets on the count of bacterial populations, pH of digestive organ contents, histopathological description, proinflammatory markers, hepatic glycogen reserve, and diarrhoea incidence of piglets challenged with Escherichia coli. Sixty-four crossbred piglets (7.16±0.28 kg body weight, 25-days-old) were assigned to four treatments in a completely randomised block design: negative control (NC), NC + antibiotic (ANT), NC + 15 mg IAP, or NC + 30 [...] ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to assess the addition of intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) to diets on the count of bacterial populations, pH of digestive organ contents, histopathological description, proinflammatory markers, hepatic glycogen reserve, and diarrhoea incidence of piglets challenged with Escherichia coli. Sixty-four crossbred piglets (7.16±0.28 kg body weight, 25-days-old) were assigned to four treatments in a completely randomised block design: negative control (NC), NC + antibiotic (ANT), NC + 15 mg IAP, or NC + 30

The objective of the current study was to compare the rumen inoculum of slaughtered cattle with the ruminal inoculum of cannulated cattle; additionally, determine its reliability in the in vitro analysis of ruminant feeds throughout a multivariate approach. Five male bovines (weight 320 ± 9.4 kg; mean ± standard deviation) provided with ruminal cannula and between five and seven bovines slaughtered in slaughterhouse were used. The evaluations were carried out following a completely randomized design. The data obtained were subjected to different multivariate analyzes to determine the reliability of the ruminal inoculum of animals slaughtered in commercial slaughterhouses compared to that obtained from cannulated animals. The relative contribution indicated that the in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD, 50.75%) and in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility (IVNDFD, 29.83%) analysis influence 80.13% of the results to determine the reliability of the ruminal inoculum from slaughtered cattle. Furthermore, it was determined that the first two principal components (IVNDFD and acetic acid production) are the ones that influence the results by 89.87%. The grouping of diets using the Tocher optimization method and the dendrogram shows the formation of six groups and two groups, respectively. The grouping shows that the ruminal inoculum source was not the limiting parameter in the evaluation. Rumen inoculum from cattle slaughtered in a commercial slaughterhouse (with unknown diet) has potential as an alternative for the in vitro analysis of cattle feed, provided that the lignin concentration in the diet is less than 35.5 g/kg DM.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of increasing levels of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) in ruminant diets on in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), gas production kinetics, ruminal fermentation parameters, ammoniacal nitrogen concentration (NH3-N), and pH of the artificial rumen contents. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 5 x 4 + 1 design, with five concentrate levels (200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000 g kg-1 DM) and four CNSL levels (0, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.2 g kg-1 DM), as well as a control diet comprising only whole-plant corn silage, totaling 21 treatments. The inclusion of concentrate linearly increased IVDMD, while CNSL levels showed a quadratic effect, with the maximum estimated at 0.5 g kg-1 of CNSL. The total gas production, the disappearance of the substrate, the fraction of slow degradation (fraction VF2), and the respective degradation rate (fraction µ2) linearly increased with increasing levels of concentrate in the diet. Increasing concentrate levels resulted in a linear increase in the concentration of NH3-N and a reduction in the pH of the rumen liquid. Increasing CNSL levels decreased the concentration of NH3-N and increased the ruminal pH. The inclusion of 0.5 g CNSL kg-1 in the ruminant diets improved IVDMD, without altering the kinetic parameters of ruminal fermentation. The addition of CNSL to ruminant diets reduces ammoniacal nitrogen production and can avoid drastic reductions in ruminal pH, favoring better fermentation in the rumen.

The objective was to test the hypothesis that ruminal inoculum obtained from slaughtered cattle can replace inoculum from cannulated cattle in trials evaluating animal feedstuffs through in vitro gas production and digestibility. Five adult Holstein × Zebu steers with ruminal cannula were used to collect and compare rumen liquid from in vivo and slaughtered animals. In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility (IVNDFD) and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations did not differ between inoculum sources (slaughtered × cannulated) for all byproducts and levels tested. Total in vitro gas production in the ruminal inoculum of cannulated animals was greater (P < 0.001) than slaughtered cattle for different levels of licuri cake. However, the greatest total concentrations of in vitro gases for slaughtered animals were observed when evaluating different levels of crude glycerin (P < 0.001). No differences were observed for diets containing castor bean meal (P >0.05). Thus, the ruminal inoculum obtained from the ruminal contents of slaughtered cattle can replace the use of fistulated animals and is a viable alternative to digestibility analysis. This approach is ethically more correct because it alleviates the suffering of animals by avoiding an invasive procedure.

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of stocking density in the pen and lairage time before slaughter on blood stress indicators, skin lesions, and pork meat quality traits. A total of 1920 immunocastrated male pigs were shipped to a slaughterhouse. In order to maintain the proposed stocking densities, 72 pigs out of the 1920 animals were removed across loads from the experiment. The remaining 1848 pigs were randomly assigned to two different stocking densities in the lairage pen (0.42 m²/100 kg and 0.66 m²/100 kg) and two lairage times (2 h and 6 h). A total of 360 pigs were selected for the analysis of exsanguination blood glucose, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, cortisol concentration, hematocrit percentage, and carcass skin lesion scores, whereas meat quality was assessed in 240 loin muscles. Except for blood hematocrit percentage, the interaction stocking density × lairage pen had no effect on any parameter (p > 0.10). When compared to a lower stocking density (0.66 m²/100 kg), pigs kept at a higher stocking density (0.42 m²/100 kg) tended to present lower blood LDH concentrations (p = 0.06) and higher blood cortisol concentrations (p = 0.08) at slaughter and had greater carcass skin lesion scores (p < 0.001) and drier (lower drip loss) loin muscles (p = 0.04). Increased blood hematocrit percentage was found in pigs kept in lairage at a higher stocking density for 6 h when compared with the other lairage conditions (p < 0.01). Overall, stocking density, in particular when it was high, influenced more pigs’ stress conditions at slaughter and carcass and meat quality than the time spent in lairage.