Effects of dietary L-carnitine and ractopamine HCl on the metabolic response to handling in finishing pigs1,2
Autor: | Robert D. Goodband, Steve S Dritz, B.W. James, K. Q. Owen, Michael D. Tokach, J.C. Woodworth, Rommel C. Sulabo, J. L. Nelssen |
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Rok vydání: | 2013 |
Předmět: | |
Zdroj: | Journal of Animal Science. 91:4426-4439 |
ISSN: | 1525-3163 0021-8812 |
Popis: | Two experiments (384 pigs; C22 × L326; PIC) were conducted to determine the interactive effect of dietary L-carnitine and ractopamine HCl (RAC) on the metabolic response of pigs to handling. Experiments were arranged as split-split plots with handling as the main plot and diets as subplots (4 pens per treatment). Dietary L-carnitine (0 or 50 mg/kg) was fed from 36.0 kg to the end of the experiments (118 kg), and RAC (0 or 20 mg/kg) was fed the last 4 wk of each experiment. At the end of each experiment, 4 pigs per pen were assigned to 1 of 2 handling treatments. Gently handled pigs were moved at a moderate walking pace 3 times through a 50-m course and up and down a 15° loading ramp. Aggressively handled pigs were moved as fast as possible 3 times through the same course, but up and down a 30° ramp, and shocked 3 times with an electrical prod. Blood was collected immediately before and after handling in Exp. 1 and immediately after and 1 h after handling in Exp. 2. Feeding RAC increased (P 0.10) of L-carnitine on growth performance. In Exp. 1 and 2, aggressive handling increased (P 0.10) between pigs fed L-carnitine and those fed RAC, indicating that L-carnitine did not decrease recovery time of pigs subjected to aggressive handling. These results suggest that pigs fed 20 mg/kg of RAC are more susceptible to stress when handled aggressively compared with pigs not fed RAC. Dietary L-carnitine fed in combination with RAC did not alleviate the effects of stress. This research emphasizes the importance of using proper animal handling techniques when marketing finishing pigs fed RAC. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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