Zinc methionine supplementation effect on performance and intestinal epithelium morphology in pigs reared in hot or cool environments

To determine the effect of zinc-methionine supplementation during the gestation-lactation (GL) and growing-finishing (DF) period in the performance and during DF on the epithelium intestinal morphology of fattening pigs under hot and cool condition, two experiments were carried out. The experiment (Exp.) 1 was carried out during the hot season and Exp. 2 during the cool season of the year. 192 pigs were used (96 per Exp.) with an average age of 79 days and 26.39 +/- 5D4.97 kg of body weight, piglets of sows that received or not feed added with 100 mg of Zn/kg, from 80 to 114 days of gestation and during 21 d of lactation (GL). In each experiment, the pigs were assigned to one of four treatments in a completely random design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. The treatments were T1 (control, n = 24), non-supplemented mothers-non-supplemented pigs; T2 (Zn FD; n = 24), non-supplemented mothers, pigs supplemented with 100 mg of Zn/kg feed; T3 (Zn GL; n = 24), supplemented mothers - non-supplemented pigs and, T4 (Zn GL + Zn DF; n = 24), supplemented mothers + supplemented pigs. Supplementation with 100 mg of Zn / kg of feed during GL and DF did not modify the productive performance of the pigs during the study period. However, the villus height: crypt depth ratio was higher (p <0.01) in pigs supplemented with Zn (3.36 vs. 2.77) during the hot season. An interaction (p <0.02) between climate and zinc, methionine supplementation was observed in the depth of the crypt and the V:C ratio. Supplementation during GL tended (P=0.06) to lower the mortality of developing-finishing pigs in the cool season. According to results, it is concluded that the addition of zinc methionine to the diet improves the integrity of the intestinal epithelium in developing-finishing pigs reared under a hot environment, and supplementation during the gestation and lactation period reduces mortality during fattening.