Effect of dietary supplementation with functional amino acids (Tre, Met and Trip) for growing pigs with suboptimal health challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium

• Grant number: 21/03752-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: May 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Luciano Hauschild
• Grantee: Isabela Cristina Milla
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15559-7 - Precision nutrition for sanitary challenged pigs reared in hot climate areas, AP.JP2

Abstract

The activation of the immune system demands a massive contribution of amino acids (AA), which can come from ingested feed or metabolize from the muscular tissues. Challenging hygienic-sanitary conditions and stress factors result in recurrent induction of immune response, which can be considered one of the main factors influencing animal performance variation, especially in the initial growth phase. In this context, amino acid supplementation and health management strategies that potentially mitigate a suboptimal animal health condition may result in lower variation in performance. The objective of this study will be to evaluate the effect of extra supplementation using a combination of functional AA (Threonine, Methionine, and Tryptophan) on the performance and body composition responses in suboptimal health pigs challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium in the growth phase. To accomplish that, an experiment will be conducted where two sanitary conditions will be simulated in two experimental barns: good (animals from farms with a good health history and hygiene standards) or challenged (mixing animals from farms with a good health history and hygiene standards and animals from farms with a poor health history and low standard of hygiene plus an inoculation with Salmonella Typhimurium). The farms will be categorized through the analysis of previous batches performance and the sanitary aspects of the facilities, considering the performance indicators, history of diseases, and quality of health management. Eighty pigs (25 kg of initial weight) of lines with high genetic potential will be acquired from a single farm with good sanitary history. They will be housed in two experimental barns (40 animals/barn) to simulate two different health status (good or suboptimal). At the beginning of the growth phase, to simulate a poor sanitary condition in one of the barns, a group of 20 pigs from a farm with a poor sanitary history will be housed with the animals acquired from the farm with good sanitary conditions. In addition, after mixing batches of pigs from different sanitary conditions, the pigs in this barn will be immunologically challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium. Thus, the 80 animals coming from a good sanitary condition will be distributed in a 2×2 factorial design: 2 levels of functional AA supplementation (growth phase, 0% and 20% above the NRC recommended requirements for Thr, Met, and Trp) and 2 sanitary conditions (good or challenged, during the growing phase). Each treatment will have 20 repetitions and each animal will be considered an experimental unit. The diets will be similar in both sanitary conditions and formulated according to the nutritional requirements recommended by the NCR (2012). The experiment will last 28 days. The variables to be studied will be performance and body composition (evaluated with the use of double X-ray absorptiometry equipment - DXA). (AU)