Evaluation of an emulsifier blend on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood lipid profiles, and fecal microbial in growing pigs fed low energy density diet

Energy is one of the major cost components in swine diets. Improving lipid digestibility is related with saving cost. Exogenous emulsifiers could help emulsification processing in gastrointestinal tract, thereby enhancing the digestion of lipids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of an emulsifier [10.21% of glycerol polyethylene glycol ricinoleate (GPGR) and 2.2% of lysophospholipids (LPL) blend (GLB)] on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood lipid profiles, and fecal microbial in growing pigs fed a relatively low energy diet. In total, 135 female and castrated male crossbred growing pigs [(Yorkshire x Landrace) x Duroc] with an average initial body weight (BW) of 20.07 +/- 1.76 kg were used in a 6-wk experiment. Pigs were blocked based on BW and sex and randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments with 9 replication pens per treatment: CON, basal diet; RET, reduced energy treatment (50 kcal/kg); RET5, RET + 0.05% GLB. Overall, no significant result (P > 0.05) was observed between CON groups and RET groups on performance parameters, nutrient digestibility, blood lipid profiles of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and cholesterol concentrations, and fecal microbial counts. At the end of the experiment, pigs fed RET5 diet had significantly (P < 0.05) increased BW, average daily gain (ADG), dry matter (DM) and crude fat (CF) digestibility, serum HDL-C and triglyceride concentrations, and fecal Lactobacillus counts compared with those fed RET diet. Moreover, pigs in RET5 group also showed significant (P < 0.05) increase in DM and serum triglyceride concentration compared with CON groups. These results indicated that supplementation with the GPGR and LPL blended emulsifier could improve the growth performance and nutrient digestion and absorption of growing pigs fed lower energy diet.