Effects of enzymatically hydrolyzed blood cells on growth performance and intestinal characteristics of newly weaned piglets

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of enzymatically hydrolyzed blood cells (EHBCs) on growth performance, intestinal microflora, intestinal morphology and brush border enzymes in weaned piglets. Seventy-two 28-day-old piglets (6.42 +/- 0.06 kg) were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments with six replicates per treatment and four pigs per replicate. They were fed ad libitum one of three iso-nitrogenous experimental diets with fish meal (FM), blood cells (BCs) or EHBCs, respectively. Compared with FM diet and BCs diet, EHBCs diet significantly increased average daily gain (P < 0.01) and feed intake (P < 0.01), whereas it significantly decreased the fecal score (P < 0.05). Moreover, the villous height of the duodenum and jejunum was significantly increased (P < 0.05), besides the activity of the aminopeptidase N, maltase and lactase (P < 0.05) and the number of lactobacillus (P < 0.05) in the cecum. Meanwhile, the number of Escherichia coli was decreased. The results indicated that the EHBCs were beneficial to growth and brush border enzymes and morphology. Thus, EHBCs may be a novel protein source for weaned piglets. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.