Effects of Saururus chinensis extract supplementation on growth performance, meat quality and slurry noxious gas emission in finishing pigs

Article history: Received 24 April 2010 Received in revised form 9 December 2010 Accepted 23 December 2010 This studywas conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary Saururus chinensis (S. chinensis) extract supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility,meat quality, longissimusmuscle and subcutaneous adipose fatty acid composition and slurrynoxious gas emission infinishingpigs. A total of 120 [(Landrace×Yorkshire)×Duroc] pigs (54.10±2.13 kg) were randomly allocated into one of the following dietary treatments: 1) CON, basal diet; 2) S1, basal diet with 1 g/kg S. chinensis extract; 3) S2, basal diet with 2 g/kg S. chinensis extract. Therewere 10 replications per treatment with 4 pigs (2 gilts and 2 barrows) per pen. Throughout the experiment, no significant difference was observed in growth performance or nutrient digestibility among treatments. However, serum triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations aswell as total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio were significantly decreased in pigs fed S2 diet (Pb0.05) compared with those fed diets without S. chinensis extract. Furthermore, the S. chinensis extract administration improved lightness (L*) value (Pb0.05)while having little effects on the fatty acid composition of longissimusmuscle and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Providing S2 diet also decreased slurry concentrations of NH3 (Pb0.05). Taken together, S. chinensis extract administration had only minor effects on finishing pigs with the exception of improving serum lipid protein profile and decreasing the emission of noxious gases from slurry. © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.