Location: Agroecosystems Management Research
Project Number: 5030-31000-007-006-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jul 1, 2020
End Date: Jan 31, 2024
Objective:
Consumption of mycotoxins, peroxidized oil, and oxidized protein will have interactive effects on the generation of oxidative stress in nursery pigs.
Approach:
Pigs from a common genetic background will be used. Upon arrival, weaned pigs (gilts) will be penned and fed as a group for 10 days to facilitate feed intake and prevent the use of non-thrifty pigs. On day 10, 64 pigs will be weighed, placed into individual pens, and randomly allotted to 1 of 8 dietary treatments. Pigs will be fed their respective dietary treatments for 28 days. Pigs will be individually weighed on day 0, 14, and 28 of the trial for determination of performance variables. Pigs will be housed in 2 separate rooms, each of which contain 32 stainless steel pens. With 8 dietary treatments, there will be 4 replications per room and both rooms will be used simultaneously, resulting in 8 replications per treatment combination.
On day 25-26, a fresh fecal sample will be collected for determination of apparent total tract digestibility of energy using titanium as a dietary marker.
On day 26, pigs will be weighed and gavaged with lactulose and mannitol. Four (4) hour post-gavage, blood will be collected and plasma separated for determination of lactulose and mannitol concentration (small intestine integrity), and for measures of oxidative stress (DNA, 8-OH-dGua; LIPID, isoprostanes; PROTEIN, protein carbonyls).
On day 28, pigs will be weighed and samples will be collected of ileal digesta (amino acid analysis), ileal tissue (villi height and crypt depth), ileal tissue (tissue measures of oxidative stress), and liver (weight and measures of oxidative stress).
