Effects of antibacterial peptide on humoral immunity in weaned piglets

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary antimicrobial peptide (AMP) supplementation on the serum IgG, IgM, IgA, classical swine fever antibody (CSF-Ab), and total complement (CH50) levels in weaned piglets. Ninety weaned piglets were randomly allotted to five groups for 28-day study. Blood samples were collected at 32, 39, 46, and 53 days of age. The results showed that AMP as dietary additive increased the levels of IgG, IgM, IgA, CSF-Ab, CH50 among the whole experimental period, and the effects of AMP supplementation were dose-dependent. The study showed that supplementing weaned piglets diets with AMP enhanced the humoral immune responses of weaned piglets by improving the levels of classical swine fever virus antibody, CH50, and immunoglobulins. We suggest the dosage of AMP was 500 mg/kg.