title: Effect of dietary supplementation with alpha-galactosidase preparation and stachyose on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal bacterial populations of piglets.
abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with alpha-galactosidase preparation and stachyose on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal bacterial populations of piglets. In Experiment I 72 crossbred piglets were allotted to three treatments, i.e. 1) control (basal) diet, 2) alpha-Gal1 and 3) alpha-Gal5, the basal diet supplemented with 0.01% and 0.05% alpha-galactosidase preparation (alpha-Gal), respectively. Average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not influenced by alpha-Gal supplementation. In Experiment II 72 crossbred weanling piglets were randomly assigned to four treatments with a complete factorial design, i.e. 1) basal diet, 2) basal diet with 0.01% alpha-Gal supplementation, 3) basal diet with 1% stachyose supplementation and 4) basal diet with 1% stachyose and 0.01% alpha-Gal supplementation. Average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were influenced by alpha-Gal and stachyose supplementation. The ileal digestibility of stachyose, raffinose, gross energy and crude protein was improved significantly by alpha-Gal supplementation. The microbial populations in the intestine were modified by both alpha-Gal and stachyose supplementation. The data suggested that stachyose supplementation had an adverse effect on the growth performance of piglets and alpha-Gal supplementation could ameliorate it, especially in younger pigs.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Baohai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Defa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiangshu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Piao
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004063:Digestion / Q000187:drug effects; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology*; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D013552:Swine / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D015430:Weight Gain; D000519:alpha-Galactosidase / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; C005695:stachyose; D000519:alpha-Galactosidase