Dietary Phytoncide Supplementation Improved Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Finishing Pigs
We conducted this 10-wk experiment to evaluate the effects of dietary phytoncide, Korean pine extract as phytogenic feed additive (PFA), on growth performance, blood characteristics, and meat quality in finishing pigs. A total of 160 pigs ([Landrace×Yorkshire]×Duroc, body weight (BW) = 58.2±1.0 kg) were randomly allocated into 1 of 4 treatments according to their BW and sex, 10 replicate pens per treatment with 4 pigs per pen were used (2 barrows and 2 gilts). Dietary treatments were: CON, control diet; PT2, CON+0.02% PFA; PT4, CON+0.04% PFA; PT6, CON+0.06% PFA. Overall, average daily gain (ADG) was higher in PT4 (p<0.05) than in PT6, average daily feed intake (ADFI) was lower in PT6 than in CON (p<0.05). Besides ADFI decreased linearly (p<0.05) with the increased level of phytoncide and gain:feed ratio in PT4 treatment was higher (p<0.05) than CON treatment. During 5 to 10 weeks and overall, quadratic (p<0.05) effect was observed in ADG among the treatments. At the end of this experiment, pigs fed with PT4 diet had a greater (p<0.05) red blood cell concentration compared to the pigs fed CON diet. Water holding capacity increased linearly (p<0.05) with the increased level of phytoncide supplementation. Moreover, firmness, redness, yellowness, and drip loss at day 3 decreased linearly (p<0.05) with the increase in the level of phytoncide supplementation. In conclusion, inclusion of phytoncide could enhance growth performance without any adverse effects on meat quality in finishing pigs.
Efficacy of Phytogenic Feed Additive on Performance, Production and Health Status of Monogastric Animals – A Review
Abstract The growing concerns of consumers on the use of antibiotic as a growth promoter in livestock feed have fueled the interest in alternative products. In the recent years a group of natural products known as phytogenics has been a focus of several studies. Phytogenics are a heterogeneous group of feed additives originating from plants and consist of herbs, spices, fruit, and other plant parts. These feed additives are reported to have a wide range of activities including antimicrobial, anthelminthic, antioxidant, growth enhancer, and immune modulator. Besides these properties they are also reported to stimulate feed intake and endogenous secretion and enhance production. They include many different bio-active ingredients such as alkaloids, bitters, flavonoids, glycosides, mucilage, saponins, tannins phenolics, polyphenols, terpenoids, polypeptide, thymol, cineole, linalool, anethole, allicin, capsaicin, allylisothiocyanate, and piperine. These feed additives have been tested in the form of extracts, cold pressed oils, essential oils in a number of animals but the results are variable. Therefore, their application as feed additive has been limited, largely owing to their inconsistent efficacy and lack of full understanding of the modes of action. The future of these feed additives depend on the characteristics of herbs, the knowledge on their major and minor constituents, the in-depth knowledge on their mode of action and their value based on the safety to animal and their products. The aim of this review is to summarize on the current knowledge on the use of phytogenic as a feed additive in monogastric animals.
Assessment of some agro-technological parameters of cactus pear fruit ( Opuntia ficus-indica Mill . ) in Morocco cultivars
Cactaceae had always attracted attention by their strange shapes and important adaptability supporting extreme conditions. For this reasons, Fruit traits were measured on 13 cultivars growing in different locations in Morocco. Results show significant differences between the cultivars. The source of this variation was probably genetic without excluding the geographic effects. The Tamri, Berkan, Ait Baha cultivars showed small fruit dimensions and weight. In contrast, Sidi-Ifni M, Nador, Mohammedia and Ben Guerir were greater than 100 g by fruit. Sidi-Ifni M, Hoceima, Mohammedia and Nador, although larger, contained few seeds, about 200 seeds per fruit; while Tamri, Ait Baha, Safi, Meknes and Tafraout contained over than 230 seeds per fruit. High levels of juice about 62 ml/100 g pulp were obtained with Sidi-Ifni M, Nador, Mohammedia and Ben Guerir cultivars. Total sugars of the 13 cultivars were quite similar and pH was low in Tamri and close to neutrality in the rest of cultivars. Therefore, oil extracted from Opuntia ficus-indica seeds constituted 13.6% of the whole seed. Thin-layer chromatography in conjunction with gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed a relatively high degree of unsaturation, 83.32% and 16% for saturated fatty acid, with a linoleic acid content of 63.66% followed by oleic 18.34%, palmitic 12.84% and stearic acid 2.81%. Based on these results, O. ficus-indica seed oil appears to be a good potential source of edible oil for human and (or) animal consumption. Our investigation describes that Tamri and Tafraout cultivars are not really a commercial viable fruit due to low total soluble solids value and highest seeds number per fruit. Against Mohammedia, Sidi Ifni M and Nador cultivars proved to have the highest fruit weight, very good total soluble solids value and low number of seeds, these cultivars can therefore be planted for both fruit production and for harvesting of cladodes for animal feed.