Bioavailability and effects of L-Methionine and DL-Methionine in the gut integrity and oxidative status of weaned pigs

• Grant number: 18/20486-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: November 01, 2018
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Luciano Hauschild
• Grantee: Raphael Perini Caetano
• Supervisor: Charles Martin Nyachoti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Manitoba, Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/10354-5 - Bioavailability and effects of L-Methionine and DL-Methionine in the gut integrity and oxidative status of weaned pigs, BP.MS

Abstract

Methionine (Met) is an essential amino acid (AA) and usually the second or third limiting AA in typical swine diets. The main Met sources include DL-Methionine (DL-Met; a 50:50 mixture of D- and L-isomers; 99% purity) and liquid methionine hydroxy analogue free acid (MHA FA, 88% Methionine hydroxy analog free acid). In swine feed, DL-Met has long been used as a source of supplemental Met, but L-Met is the biologically functional form of Met readily utilized by the intestinal cells. Dietary D-Met must be converted into L-Met by the animals to be utilized. Usually animals perform this conversion well. Thus, D-Met is fully utilized by animals including pigs and poultry. However, the enzymatic amount available for this conversion in young pigs is reduced and there is limited information about the relative bioavailability (RBV) of L-Met compared with DL-Met for pigs for body protein (nitrogen) retention and gut development (gut morphology) of starter and growing pigs. In this context, the aim of this project is to deepen study previously proposed to FAPESP (Process No. 2017/10354-5) by performing the statistical analysis of the experiment data, and discussion of the results in association with international research groups. In the project originally submitted to FAPESP, we have proposed to analyze bioavailability of two methionine sources and their effects. To achieve the initial objectives, the present project proposes an international partnership to evaluate these possible effects with research group of Dr. Martin Nyachoti. Among other studies, the group evaluates digestion and metabolic use of proteins in pigs. If successful, the application of knowledges obtained through contact with international researchers will allow the better understanding and discussing the data in scientific paper. Besides that, these knowledges will can be applied to researches in FCAV-UNESP.