Role of glutanime on growth performance, immune response and gastrointestinal tract development of weaned pigs

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of glutamine (Gln) on growth performance, immuneresponse and gastrointestinal tract development of weaned pigs. A total of sixty 21 day-old weaned pigs (30 castratedmale and 30 female), average body weight approximately 6.39+0.96 kg were divided into 3 treatments with4 replicate pens each with 5 pigs. The experimental diets were as follows: control, supplemental Gln at 0.5 and 1.0%.All pigs were provided feed and water ad libitum throughout the experimental period (28 d). The results showed thatGln supplementation had no significantly improvement on growth performance of weaned pigs. While it was foundthat dietary Gln supplementation at 1% can improved total immunoglobulin of piglets at 7 days after weaning.In addition, supplemental Gln at 1% also significantly enhanced the villi area in duodenum (P<0.05).