Effects of a functional fatty acid blend on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and serum profiles in weaned piglets

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether dietary supplementation with a functional fatty acid blend (FA) that contains 31.4% butyric acid and 4.99% medium-chain FA improve growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity status, and anti-inflammatory ability in weaned piglets. METHODS: One hundred and forty-four healthy piglets (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) with an average body weight (BW) of 7.98±3.43 kg were randomly divided into three groups with six replicate pens and eight piglets per pen: Normal control (NC): a corn-soybean basal diet; FA1: a basal diet supplemented with 1,000 mg/kg of a functional FA; FA2: a basal diet supplemented with 2,000 mg/kg of a functional FA. The experiment lasted for 28 d. On d 14 and 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for antioxidative index and immunoglobulins. On d 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for intestinal morphology and inflammatory factor. RESULTS: We observed that FA supplementation linearly increased (p<0.05) average daily gain and the final BW. There was higher (p<0.05) catalase on d 14, and immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgM on d 28 in piglets supplemented with FA2 than in the NC group. Moreover, dietary FA2 reduced (p<0.05) crypt depth of ileum in piglets. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8, and IL-10 in jejunum were lower (p<0.05) in the FA2 group compared with the NC group. CONCLUSION: Therefore, the overall results suggests that the FA may help to improve gut health, antioxidant status, and immune parameters resulting in the improvement of growth performance.