Effect of lecithin supplementation in standard diet for weaned pigs on growth performance and blood cholesterol level

摘要

The objective of this experiment was to study the effect of lecithin addition to the diets on the performance and blood cholesterol in weaned pigs. Sixteen weaned pigs cross-breed Youna half male and half female (initial body weight 13.15 ± 0.05 kg) with two replicates were randomly allocated to two experimental groups for three weeks. The experimental design consisted of two dietary treatments: 1) control diet – unsupplemented; 2) experimental diet – supplemented with lecithin, at a level of 1% in the diet. Individual pigs' body weights were recorded weekly. Feed intake and feed conversion rate were determined at the end of the trail per group. At the end of the trail blood samples were collected from the pigs to determine total serum cholesterol concentrations. The results of this study have shown that lecithin supplementation enhances average daily gain by 10.6%. The addition of lecithin had higher effect during the first two weeks after weaning. The lecithin supplementation reduced the serum cholesterol by 20%