Effect of combination of turmeric, ginger and garlic extracts on performance, microbial load and gut morphology of weaned pigs

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of combinations of turmeric, ginger and garlic extracts on performance, microbial load and gut histomorphological parameters of weaned pigs. Fifteen mixed sex weaned pigs were randomly allotted into five treatments consisting a control (T0) with no extracts; T1 with combinations of extracts turmeric/ginger, T2 with combinations of extracts turmeric/garlic, T3 with combination of extracts ginger/garlic, T4 with combinations of extracts turmeric/ginger/garlic. A total number of 15 weaned pigs were randomly allotted into 5 treatments with 3 replicates each (1 animal per replicate) and arranged in a completely randomized design. Feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) were measured weekly throughout the experiment while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated, data was collected on microbial load and gut histomorphological parameters of ileum and jejunum of the experimental animals. No significant variation was observed for final weight with values ranging from 18.00kg to 22.67kg. The same trend was observed for feed intake and feed conversion ratio for all treatments with values ranging from 34.67kg to 41.81kg and 3.89 to 4.46 respectively. Total microbial count was however significantly improved in pigs fed T3 and T4 with values 7.70 and 7.65 cfu/kg respectively. No significant (P˃0.05) variation was observed for Lactobacillus and E. coli. across the treatments with values ranging from 5.74 to 6.33cfu and 5.43 to 5.77 cfu/kg respectively. Enterobacteria were not found in pigs fed T4, however, no significant difference was observed in the pigs fed T0, T1, T2, and T3 diets. Furthermore, the addition of extracts improved significantly (P˂0.05) the villus height, villus width and crypt depth in ileum in all treatments with values ranging from 709.25 to 1284.25 µm, 110 to 128.50 µm and 87.65 to 112.00 µm respectively. The same trend was observed for villus height, villus width, and crypt depth in jejunum in all treatment with values ranging from 533.50 to 1453.75 µm, 94.75 to 131.00 µm and 75.00 to 116.00 µm respectively. From this study, it can be concluded that combinations of turmeric and ginger can serve as a better growth promoter since the dietary supplementations resulted in an increase in the villus height, villus width and crypt depth of intestinal mucosa of pigs thus increasing the surface area for nutrient absorptions which will aids the digestion flow and absorption processes of digested food in the Gut Intestinal tracts of the animals.