Spray-dried chicken plasma improves intestinal digestive function and regulates intestinal selected microflora in weaning piglets.

One hundred forty-four 25-d-old weaning piglets with BW of 6.43 ± 0.39 kg were used in a 28-d trail to evaluate the effects of dietary addition of spray-dried chicken plasma (SDCP) as a replacement for spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, diarrhea incidence, small intestinal morphology, digestive enzyme activity, and microflora. Pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments: 1) CON (control; a basal diet), 2) SDPP (containing 5% SDPP), 3) SDPP + SDCP (containing 2.5% SDPP and 2.5% SDCP), and 4) SDCP (containing 5% SDCP). Six pigs from each treatment were randomly selected to collect serum and intestinal samples. Compared with the CON group, both the SDPP and the SDPP + SDCP groups improved final BW of pigs (P < 0.05), but there were no differences among the SDPP, SDPP + SDCP, and SDCP groups. From d 1 to 14 and d 15 to 28, pigs fed the SDPP and SDPP + SDCP diets had a greater (P < 0.05) ADG than pigs fed the CON diet. During the overall period, both ADG and ADFI of pigs in the SDPP and SDPP + SDCP groups were improved (P < 0.05) compared with pigs in the CON group. Furthermore, pigs fed diets containing SDPP or SDCP had a greater (P < 0.05) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of CP, ether extract, Ca, and ash and less (P < 0.05) incidence of diarrhea than pigs fed the CON diet. However, no differences were observed for ATTD and diarrhea incidence between the SDPP and SDCP groups. Compared with the CON group, duodenal villus height and the ratio of villi to crypt were increased (P < 0.05) in the SDPP, SDPP + SDCP, and SDCP groups and jejunal crypt depth was decreased in the SDPP + SDCP and SDCP groups (P < 0.05). Pigs in the SDPP group had greater (P < 0.05) activities of amylase, maltase, and trypsin than pigs in the CON group. However, no significant differences were observed between the SDCP and SDPP groups. Additionally, inclusion of SDCP in diet decreased (P < 0.05) the population of Escherichia coli. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that the addition of SDCP in pigs’ diet had an effect similar to SDPP on improving growth performance through the promotion of the small intestinal development, increasing digestive enzymes activities, enhancing ATTD of nutrients, and decreasing diarrhea incidence.