EARLY SUPPLEMENTATION OF L-GLUTAMINE IMPROVES PERFORMANCE AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE INTESTINAL MUCOSA IN THE EARLY WEANED PIG

摘要

The small intestine of the weaned pig is the organ that suffers the most changes after the separation of the sow. In the early weaned pig (<18 days), these alterations are more dramatic and in most cases, delay the performance of the pig. The non-essential amino acid L-glutamine (glutamine), has shown some protective role on the intestinal atrophy observed in patients with extensive burns, which suffer a sudden and profound stress similar to pigs in the days following the isolation from the mother. However, previous experiments showed that glutamine supplementation in pigs after weaning had an inconstant protective role on the histologycal characteristics of the intestinal mucosa.3 The addition of glutamine just in the period after weaning and not before can be the reason why, amino acid-supplemented pigs do not shown a constant improvement in the main productive parameters. Furthermore, all previous experiments performed in pigs had used tap water to supply the glutamine. Poor miscibility of thisamino acid in water can be a factor not evaluated before. Liquid whey represents a good vehicle for the inclusion of glutamine. The objective of this study is to evaluate the early supplementation of glutamine dissolved in liquid whey on the performanceand the small intestine atrophy of pigs wean after two weeks of age.