Earlier weaning caused psychological, environmental and nutritional stress reactions in piglets, which induced diarrhea, dystrophia, slow growth, and impaired immune response. This experiment was conducted to study the effects of acanthopanax senticosus (AS) extracts as a dietary additive on growth performance, serum contents and apparent ileal digestibilities (AID) of amino acids (AA) in weaned piglets. In experiment 1, sixty piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to one of 3 treatment groups, representing supplementation with 0 or 1g/kg of the AS extracts, or 0.2 g/kg of colistin to maize- and soybean meal-based diets (n = 20). Body weights and feed intakes were measured at the beginning of the trial and weekly thereafter. Blood samples of 5 piglets per group were randomly collected on days 7, 14 and 28 after initiation of the addition to determine serum contents of free AA. In experiment 2, twelve barrows with an average initial BW of 7.64 kg were also randomly assigned into the three dietary treatment groups, after surgically僴 fitted with a simple T-cannula at the terminal僴 ileum. The samples of terminal ileal digesta were collected on day 7 for analysis of AID of AA. Data showed that the AS extracts increased the average daily feed intake, and average daily gain by 10.6 - 12.6％, and 8.7 - 28.3％, respectively, during weeks 3 to 4 and overall after the supplementation, as well as the gain-feed ratio by 1.3 - 5.4％, of which efficacy were stronger compared with the colistin. The serum contents and AID of most AA in the AS extracts-supplemented group were gradually increased by 15.3 - 80.8％ and 4.1 - 30.8％, respectively, at the same time as the experiment proceed in comparison with the colistin-additive group and/or non-additive group. Collectively, these findings indicated that the AS extracts could enhance the ability of digestion and absorption of AA, which may be a potential mechanism of its growth- and immune response-promoting efficacy.
The key Laboratory of Food Science of Ministry of Education, Nanchang University, Nanchang,Jiangxi, The key Laboratory of Food Science of Ministry of Education, Nanchang University, Nanchang,Jiangxi, The key Laboratory of Food Science of Ministry of Education, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, Key Laboratory for Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, , Institute of SubtropicalAgricu