EFFECT OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH VITAMINS E AND C ON THE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF PIGS

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted at the piggery unit of the Department of Animal Science Farm, University of Nigeria, Nsukka from June 2010 – September 2011, to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with vitamins E and C on the productive performance of pigs. The first experiment assessed the effect of dietary combinations of different levels of vitamins E and C on the growth performance of weaner pigs. Thirty six, Eight weeks old weaner gilts were used for this trial. They were randomly assigned to nine experimental treatment diets having different combinations of vitamins E and C (0 mg vitamin C/0 iu vitamin E (T1), 250 mg vitamin C/0 iu vitamin E (T2), 500 mg vitamin C/ 0 iu vitamin E (T3), 60 iu vitamin E/0 mg vitamin C (T4), 60 iu vitamin E/250 mg vitamin C (T5), 60 iu vitamin E/500 mg vitamin C (T6), 120 iu vitamin E/0 mg vitamin C (T7), 120 iu vitamin E/250 mg vitamin C (T8), 120 iu vitamin E/500 mg vitamin C (T9) with four gilts per treatment. The gilts were housed in pairs making up two replicates per treatment. The initial body weights and linear body measurements of the gilts were recorded before  the  start  of  the  experiment.  Thereafter,  weekly  body  weights  and  linear  body measurements were taken and continued till the gilts attained puberty at the age of 5 months. One experimental diet with 18% crude protein (CP) and 2800 kcal/kgME was formulated for the gilts in the nine treatments but had different levels of vitamins E and C assigned to each treatment. The vitamins were administered through the feed at the time of feeding. In experiment 2, sixteen gilts were selected out of 36 gilts from experiment 1 and randomly assigned to four dietary treatments to evaluate the effects of the combinations of vitamins E and C on the reproductive  performance  of  gilts.  Each  treatment  was  replicated  twice  with  two  gilts  per replicate making up four gilts per treatment. One experimental ration containing 15% CP and 2500kcal/kgME was used but different levels of vitamins E and C for each treatment were added to  the  feed  at  the  time  of  feeding.  The  gilts  were  placed  on  the  gestation/lactation  diet immediately after selection and were allowed to attain their second estrus before mating took place. The body weight of the gilts were recorded before mating following the manifestation of second estrus and date of mating recorded. Gilts were fed 2.0kg of 15% CP diet each day when pregnancy was confirmed. Weekly body weights of the gilts were subsequently taken throughout the gestation period. At farrowing, their ration was increased to 2.6kg per pig per day until piglets were weaned at the age of 8 weeks. The birth weights of the piglets were recorded within 24 hours of parturition, and subsequently piglet weekly body weights were recorded until weaning. Similarly, the body weights of the lactating sows were taken weekly to monitor their body weight changes during lactation. All the data in both experiments one and two were processed and analyzed in accordance with 3 x 3 and 2 x 2 factorial arrangement, respectively in a  completely  randomized  design  (CRD).  Results  of  experiment  one  showed  a  significant (P<0.05) interaction of vitamins E and C on the body weight of gilts. Weaner pigs on T5  diet containing 60iu and 250mg of vitamins E and C, performed significantly better (P<0.05) in terms of average final body weight (66.13 ± 2.49kg) and growth rate (633.50 ± 30.34g/day) than those in other treatments. However, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were comparable (P>0.05) among the nine treatments. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in flank-to-flank lengths among the gilts in the treatments, with T1  and T2  having the highest values of 67.13 ± 1.82cm and 67.25 ± 1.23cm, respectively. Gilts on T5  had the highest (P<0.05) heart girth values of

83.68 ± 1.22cm, while gilts on T8 and T9 had comparable but lower heart girth of 65.08 ±1.42cm and 65.00 ± 1.06cm, respectively. Significant interaction (P<0.05) effects of vitamins E and C were observed in body weight, weight gain, flank-to-flank and heart girth measurements of gilts at puberty. In the reproductive phase, average litter size values of 7.00 ± 0.58, 8.00 ± 0.41, 8.00 ±

0.00 and 7.00 ± 1.00 for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and the corresponding birth weight mean values of 0.97 ± 0.08kg, 1.05 ± 0.11kg, 1.19 ± 0.00kg and 1.24 ± 0.03kg were not significantly different (P>0.05) among the treatments. Significantly lower (P<0.05)  pre-weaning body weight gain (g/day/piglet) was observed for piglets on T1 with mean value of 126.25 ± 5.62 compared to piglets on T2, T3  and T4  with respective values of 150.77 ± 5.00, 150.51 ± 1.59 and 164.12 ±

7.23. A range of 22.07 ± 3.45% to 25.10 ± 0.10% pre-weaning mortality was observed across treatments.   Piglets on T1 had the least weaning weight of 7.25 ± 0.28kg which differed significantly (P <0.05) from piglets on T2, T3  and T4  with weaning weights of 8.42 ± 0.24kg, 8.62 ± 0.08kg and 8.71 ± 0.60kg, respectively. The highest (P <0.05) gestation weight gain of 50.20 ± 0.20kg was recorded for gilts on T3  while the least (P <0.05) gestation weight gain of 44.33 ± 4.48kg was observed in gilts on T1. This study finally suggested that a combination of 60 iu vitamin E/250 mg vitamin C, and supplementation of 120 iu vitamin E alone are more suitable for the improvement of growth performance of pigs managed intensively, while dietary vitamins E and C supplementation at 0 iu vitamin E/250 mg vitamin C, 120 iu vitamin E/0 mg vitamin C and 120 iu vitamin E/250 mg vitamin C combinations during gestation of gilts and their lactation will effectively enhance litter size and lactation performance.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Meat is becoming a highly scarce commodity especially at a time when staples like garri, cowpea and rice can not be reached by many consumers as a result of the global food crisis which is currently plaguing the country as well as many other countries in the world.

Due to the expensive nature of poultry meat and egg, beef, mutton, pork, chevron etc, people now have resorted to frozen fish consumption which was ignored years ago. Shortage of protein particularly those of animal origin, is prevalent, not only in Nigeria but also in most parts of Africa, where it is estimated that on the average, 10g of animal protein is consumed per day per person, compared to a recommended daily intake of 35g (ILCA, 1980).The level of consumption of meat and animal protein in Nigeria is estimated at about 8g per caput per day, about 27g less than the minimum requirement by the National Research Council of the United State of America. Despite the progress made in pig production, current production levels especially in the developing countries are still less than the biological potentials of pigs.

Pig production in Nigeria today, has been adversely affected by a number of factors, which can be traced to environmental, nutritional, management and perhaps, genetic factors. When a stock with high genetic potential is in place, these other factors need to be totally controlled before high production will be achieved. Controlling these, will impact positively on the animals’ overall productivity.

Again, the fear created by the emergence of avian influenza (avian flu) has negatively affected animal protein intake of Nigerians. The large number of backyard household poultry enterprises have reduced due to the dread of the ominous consequences of the avian flu outbreak. This has therefore kept poultry products out of the reach of the poor urban and rural dwellers.

Pig production therefore, seems to be the likeliest and quickest means of solving the problem of insufficient animal protein intake, especially in the Southern and Middle-Belt zones of Nigeria, where pork is not discriminated against.

Also, considering the sustained pressure on livestock producers to reduce environmental impacts and optimize animal welfare, the on-going pursuit of advances in nutrition of which this research is part of, will be fundamental to the sustainability of pig production. Pig and poultry unlike ruminants, according to Preston (1990) do not produce methane and therefore are regarded as being environmentally friendly.

Among the factors that militate against animal performance, biological free radicals have been strongly implicated as one of the major causes of poor performance and low productivity in a high intensive animal production. In the event of the failure of the tissue antioxidant defense system to stabilize the activities of the free radicals, which have potentially detrimental effects on animal performance and are highly reactive, these continue to be generated leading to tissue and cell destructions. This will have very negative effects on the productive potential of the animals. Therefore, delivery of supplemental antioxidant vitamins to domestic animals in confinement  might  improve  health  and  performance  outcomes  by  reducing  the  effects  of oxidative  stress  to  which  these  animals  are  presumably  exposed.  The  health  outcome  of morbidity and the production outcomes of weight gain and feed conversion ratio, are expected to be improved.

Supplementation with levels of feed additives has been used in swine feeds since 1950’s for improved growth rate and feed efficiency and to maintain pig performance. The most effective use is in the diets of weanlings and young growing pigs, but good responses are also obtained in finisher and breeding swine (Zimmerman, 1986).

The consistent effectiveness of feed additives in enhancing pig performance has led to their extensive use in swine feeding industry. Cromwell (2001) estimated that 80 to 90 % of all starter pig feeds, 70 to 80 % of all finisher pig feeds and 40 to 50 % of all sow feeds, are fortified with one form of additives or the other. Vitamins however, are not excluded from these additives that enhance and promote the performance of animals.

Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin of plant origin, essential for the integrity and optimal function of the reproductive, muscular, circulatory, neurons and immune systems. It is known for its role as an anti-oxidant, protecting unsaturated bond of cellular membrane phospholipids against free radical attack (Tappel, 1972). The immuno-modulatory effects of vitamin E, have been demonstrated in human and variety of animal species and were most evident in very young, very old and immunocompromised individuals (Tengerdy et al., 1984; Meydani, 1995).

Vitamin  C  is  a  white  crystalline  acid,  which  is  widely  distributed  in  certain  fruits  and vegetables.  Its deficiency may lead to scurvy (Hartman –Petersen and Pigford, 1984). It is generally assumed that pigs can synthesize vitamin C and do not need dietary supplementation in most conditions (N.R.C, 1998). However, there is evidence that in certain conditions, pigs may need supplemental vitamin C for maximum weight gain (Yen and Pond, 1981).

Vitamins E and C are primary antioxidants in biological systems that break the chain of lipid peroxidation (Gey, 1998). Hoechler and Marquardt (1996) showed that vitamin C enhanced the biological efficacy of vitamin E, thus, the interaction between vitamin E and C affected performance in growing pigs.

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In  an  intensively  managed  piggery,  pigs  experience  both  low  and  high  levels  of  antigen exposure. This type of husbandry predisposes the animals to infection and stress which may usually arise from the metabolic products of the animals and other factors as a result of the animals’ confinement.

Due to infection and stress, the immunity of the pigs may be compromised leading to poor performance. Therefore, in order to achieve high efficiency in both growth and reproductive performance of pigs, there is a great need of dietary vitamins E and C supplementation for pigs. Vitamins E and C are known to possess both antioxidant and immuno-modulatory properties that will enable pigs exposed antigenically to perform optimally.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of the study was :-

To evaluate the effect of dietary combinations of different levels of vitamins E and C on some performance characteristics of the pigs.

The specific objectives were to:

(i) to assess the growth performance of weaner pigs fed combinations of different levels of vitamins E and C .

(ii) to evaluate the effect of the combinations of vitamins E and C on the reproductive performance of gilts.

1.3 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

Ayo and Oladele (1996) noted that in order to achieve high rate of efficiency and live weight gain of pigs, there is a great need of vitamins E, C and A supplementation for pigs experiencing low or high levels of antigen exposure.   Intensive pig production requires fast growing strains, usually at high stocking densities and in a more confined state.

With this type of husbandry, flocks are highly susceptible to infectious agents and stressful conditions, which may arise, not only from the metabolic products of the animals in a confined state but also from other factors. These infectious agents and the stressful conditions, may compromise the immune potentials of the animals thereby reducing their ability to perform optimally. In this regard, the significance of vitamins E and C which are known to have antioxidant and immuno-responsive properties can not be over emphasized.

When pigs are intensively raised, they are antigenically exposed. This results in immune system activation. Therefore, the dietary inclusion of antioxidant vitamins such as vitamins E and C in an intensively managed piggery could potentially minimize negative effects of free radicals on the productivity of farm animals.

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