Currently, the Ecuadorian production enterprises of balanced foods for pigs in pre-weaning, weaning, starting and growing used in their formulations antibiotics and synthetic growth promoters that, due to their therapeutic effects, helps to counteract digestive disorder and, at the same time, optimize productive indexes, among which can mention weight gain and feed conversion. However, this led to this additives dependence with the appearance of resistant microorganisms.
The weaning period is the most stressing stage in pig’s production (Caicedo et al. 2020 Caicedo, W., Ferreira, F.N., Pérez, M., Flores, A. & Ferreira, W. 2020. "Comportamiento productivo de cerdos post-destete alimentados con una dieta suplementada con fruta de banano orito (Musa acuminata AA) fermentado con yogur". Livestock Research for Rural Development, 32(2), Article #33, ISSN: 2521-9952. Available: http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd32/2/orlan32033.html ). In semi-intensive and intensive pig rearing house from Ecuador, the piglets weaning is carry out between 21 and 28 days of born, this cause changes in the function of the intestinal mucus and decrease the digestive process efficacy which affects the growing and developing of animals (Flores et al. 2015 Flores, L., Elías, A., Proaño, F., Granizo, G., Medina, Y., López, S., Herrera, F. & Caicedo, W. 2015. "Effects of a microbial preparation, a probiotic and commercial antibiotic on the productive performance and pig’s health in post-weaning period". Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science, 49(3): 357-365, ISSN: 2079-3480. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/1930/193042629011.pdf. ).
In nature it can found natural growth promoters, which do not cause damage to the animals and humans. Precisely, the use of essential oils can be considered as an alternative to the use of antibiotics and synthetic growth promoters. Many researchers are focus on the use of the bioactive compounds of plants, that when they are supplied in the animal’s diet improves the odor and taste of the food, increasing their palatability (Maenner et al. 2011 Maenner, K., Vahjen, W. & Simon, O. 2011. "Studies on the effects of essential-oil-based feed additives on performance, ileal nutrient digestibility, and selected bacterial groups in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets". Journal of Animal Science, 89(7): 2106-2112, ISSN: 0021-8812. https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2010-2950. ).It has been showed, in addition, that these compounds take part in the modification of the intestinal microbiota and in the animals immunity (Chávez-Soto et al. 2021 Chávez-Soto, D., Vázquez-Armijo, J., Hernández-Meléndez J, Martínez-González J, Esparza-Jiménez S. & López-Aguirre, D. 2021. "Essential oils in small ruminants and their effect on productivity". Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems, 24(2): 1-12, ISSN: 1870-0462. https://www.revista.ccba.uady.mx/ojs/index.php/TSA/article/view/3468/1612 ).The essential oils are able of improve the structure (intestinal morphology), the process of digestion and nutrients absorption, obtaining low energy expenses and decreasing the intestinal inflammation (Maya-Ortega et al. 2021 Maya-Ortega, C., Ángel-Isaza, J., Martínez-Morales, B. & Parra-Suescún, J. 2021. "Oregano essential oil (Lippia origanoids) improves productive parameters and blood metabolites in piglets". Biotecnología en el Sector Agropecuario y Agroindustrial, 19(2): 82-93, ISSN: 1692-3561. https://doi.org/10.18684/bsaa.v19.n2.2021.1547. ). They also prevent intestinal infections, as diarrheas which are one of dying causes in freshly weaning piglets. The use of these oils is an easily option to the small, medium and big pig farmers, with their consistent economic and therapeutic benefits that restrict the use of antibiotics and synthetic growth promoters.
Grovas et al. (2018) Grovas, J., Cóndor, E., Collantes, I. & Reyna, V. 2018. "Esteroles presentes en el extracto apolar de las raíces de ajo sacha Mansoa alliacea". Revista Sociedad Química del Perú, 84(4): 513-521, ISSN: 1810-634X. http://www.scielo.org.pe/pdf/rsqp/v84n4/a11v84n4.pdf. and Correa and Cabrera (2019) Correa, K. & Cabrera, L. 2019. Estudio farmacognóstico y fitoquímico preliminar de las hojas y tallo de Mansoa hymenaea (DC.) A.H. Gentry, bejuco de ajo. Trabajo de Titulación de Químico Farmacéutico, Universidad de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador, pp. 86. research into species from Mansoa genus, which take part of Bignoniaceae family, from which essential oils has being extracted. Their leaves, root, stem and flowers have alkaloid, tannin, phenols, flavonoids, glycosides, quinones, sulfur compounds as alliin and alicin. The leaflets and buds are carrier of steroids, such as β-sitosterol, strigmasterol, duocosterol and fucosterol, which have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial action, allowing their use in supplements of diets for zoothecnical interest animals.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the dietetic supplementation of essential oil of wild garlic (Mansoa alliacea L.) on the productive performance of post-weaning piglets.
The research was performed in Santa Rita Farm, located in Tarqui parish, from Pastaza canton and Pastaza province, Ecuador. This region is at 900 m o.s.l and has a mean temperature that varies between 18 and 28 ºC, with semi-hot or subtropical humid climate. The average relative humidity is of 87 % and annual rainfalls of 4000 and4500 mm (INAMHI 2014 INAMHI (Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología). 2014. Anuario Meteorológico. Quito, Ecuador, p. 28, Available: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aRysaX9teIQwI4E_U9vtR6XaNBNv4VL9/view. ).
The foliage of wild garlic was obtained from a plantation with two years of established in Caicedo Agricultural Farm, located in Tarqui parish, Pastaza canton, Ecuador. A total of 1 kg of fresh green leaves were collected, without cuttings and yellowish. Table 1 show the essential oil extraction process.
| Procedures | Description |
|---|---|
| Washed | It was carried through a continuous flow of drinking water at room temperature. It was drained for 30 min and aired during six hours to eliminate humidity excess. |
| Cutted | They were manually cut, with the help of stainless steel knife, at a particle size of 1cm diameter to facilitate the drying. |
| Dried | A tray dryer at 60 ºC was used. The total drying time was between 24 and 48 h. |
| Milled | A hammer mill of medium mesh was used to obtain a higher number of particles that make more efficient the extraction when increasing the contact surface. |
| Essential oil extraction | The essential oil was obtained by the water vapor dragging technique; that when it condenses form a mixture of essential oil and water. To eliminate the water, the mixture was placed in a separation funnel. To separate the water and the essential oil a decanting was performed, and after the residual water was freeze. Later, the essential oil was in refrigeration between 4 and 7 °C until their use. |
In this research was fulfilled with the regulations of Animal Welfare of the Republic of Ecuador (AGROCALIDAD 2017 AGROCALIDAD (Agencia Ecuatoriana de Aseguramiento de la Calidad del Agro). 2017. Manual de aplicabilidad de buenas prácticas porcícolas. Quito, Ecuador, pp. 127. Available: http://www.agrocalidad.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Guia-BPA-publicaciones/2017/enero/manual-buenas-practicas-porcicolas-24-01-2017.pdf. ). The experimental process was developed according to Sakomura and Rostagno (2007) Sakomura, N. & Rostagno, H. 2007. Métodos de pesquisa em nutrição de monogástricos. Jaboticabal: FUNEP, pp. 283. guidelines. A total of 24 castrated male piglets, commercial cross (Blanco Belga x Duroc x Pietrain) of 28 days of age, with average live weight of 9.33 ± 0.34 kg were used. Each pig was considered as an experimental unit. The animals were housed in a shed, which included individual 0.80 x 0.80 m (0.64 m²) pens, with plastic floor and blocks walls of 1m height. The food intake per day (FID), weight gain per day (WGD), feed conversion (FC), and final weight (FW) were evaluated. The experiment lasted 28 d. The weighing was carried out every week with an electronic portable balance, cale brand, with 50 kg capacity.
The diets were formulated according to Rostagno et al. (2017) Rostagno, H.S., Albino, L.F.T., Donzele, J.L., Gomes, P.C., Oliveira, R.F., Lopes, D.C., Ferreira, A.S., Barreto, S.L.T. & Euclides, R.F. 2017. Tabelas Brasileiras para Aaves e suínos: Composição De Alimentos e Exigências nutricionais, 4rd. Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa. Brazil, p. 488. recommendations (table 2). The treatments consisted in a control diet (0); 500 mg of essential oil of wild garlic.kg DM-1and 1000 mg of essential oil of wild garlic.kg DM-1. Before the daily supply to the animals, the essential oil was mixed with the food in those foods that included. The balanced formulations were made every week and were ad libitum in hopper -type feeder once a day, at 08:00 a.m. The water was constant in nipple drinkers.
| Raw matters, % | Dietetic supplementation of wild garlic essential oil , mg.kg DM-1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 500 | 1000 | |
| Freshly cooked yellow corn | 49.98 | 49.98 | 49.98 |
| Integral powder meal | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Soya meal leophylaser | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Vegetable oil | 1.54 | 1.54 | 1.54 |
| Wheat meal | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Wheatgerm | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Calcium carbonate | 0.40 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| Monodicalcic phosphate | 2.33 | 2.33 | 2.33 |
| Vitamin mineral premixture pigs # | 0.40 | 0.40 | 0.40 |
| LD-Methionine 99 % | 0.28 | 0.28 | 0.28 |
| L-Lysine HCL 78 % | 0.66 | 0.66 | 0.66 |
| Choride of choline 60 % | 0.20 | 0.20 | 0.20 |
| Antifungal | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.05 |
| Sodium chloride | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.50 |
| Starch | 3.66 | 3.66 | 3.66 |
| Bacitracin zinc, g/t | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Essential oil of wild garlic, mg.kg DM-1 | 0 | 500 | 1000 |
| Composition, % dry base | |||
| Crude protein | 19.24 | 19.24 | 19.24 |
| Crude fiber | 2.64 | 2.64 | 2.64 |
#Premixture of vitamins and minerals for growing pigs (vit. A, 2 300 000 UI; vit. D3, 466 667 UI; vit. E, 5000 UI; vit. K3, 667 mg; vit. B1, 333 mg; vit. B2, 1000 mg; vit. B6, 400 mg; vit. B12, 4000 μg; folic acid, 67 mg; niacin, 6660 mg; pantothenic acid , 4000 mg; biotin, 17 mg; choline, 43 g; iron, 26 667 mg; copper, 41 667 mg; cobalt, 183 mg; manganese, 16 667 mg; zinc, 26 667 mg; selenium, 67 mg; iodine, 267 mg; antioxidant 27 g; vehicle qsp, 1000 g)
For the productive performance a covariable analysis was performed in the variables final weight, weight gain per day, food intake per day and feed conversion. The initial weight was taking as concomitant variable, so analysis of variance was carried out according to a completely random design, with three treatments and eight repetitions per treatment. In necessary cases Duncan (1955) Duncan, D.B. 1955. "Multiple Range and Multiple F Tests". Biometrics, 11(1): 1-42, ISSN: 0006-341X. https://doi.org/10.2307/3001478. test for (p ≤ 0.05) was applied. Shapiro and Wilk (1965) Shapiro, S. & Wilk, B. 1965. "An analysis of variance test for normality (complete samples) ". Biometrika, 52(3/4): 591-611, ISSN: 0006-3444. https://doi.org/10.2307/2333709. test were applied for the normality of errors, and Levene (1960) Levene, H. 1960. Robust tests for the equality of variance. Contributions to probability and statistics. Stanford University Press. p. 278. test for the homogeneity of variance. The results fulfill with those assumptions, so it was not necessary their transformation. All analyses were performed with the statistical package Infostat (Di Rienzo et al. 2021 Di Rienzo, J.A., Casanoves, F., Balzarini, M.G., González, L., Tablada, M. & Robledo, C.W. 2021. InfoStat, Version 2021 (Windows). Grupo InfoStat, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. Available: https://www.infostat.com.ar/index.php?mod=page&id=46 ).
There were not significant differences (p > 0.05) for the final weight, weight gain per day, food intake per day and feed conversion of animals. The results of the productive indexes in post weaning pigs are show in table 3.
| Indicators | Supplementation levels of wild garlic essential oil in the diet, mg.kg DM-1 | SE± | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 500 | 1000 | |||
| Live weight, kg | |||||
| Initial | 9.06 | 9.12 | 9.90 | 1.01 | 0.8274 |
| Final | 17.23 | 17.44 | 18.68 | 1.81 | 0.8279 |
| Weight gain, kg/day | 0.29 | 0.30 | 0.31 | 0.04 | 0.9168 |
| Food intake, kg/day | 0.69 | 0.69 | 0.76 | 0.03 | 0.1657 |
| Feed conversion # | 2.52 | 2.52 | 2.51 | 0.26 | 0.9999 |
# Intake /weight gain
There were not significant differences between treatments, although slights increases in final weight, weight gain, food intake and feed conversion were showed for the animals treated with 1000 mg.kg DM-1 of wild garlic essential oil. This show that for next researchers it should made higher supplementation with this oil to achieve better results. Baca and Ampuero (2019) Baca, N. & Ampuero, A. 2019. "Efecto de la inclusión de aceite esencial de orégano en la dieta de lechones destetados sobre parámetros productivos". Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Perú, 30(4): 1537-1542, ISSN: 1609-9117. http://www.scielo.org.pe/pdf/rivep/v30n4/a14v30n4.pdf , Albetis (2021) Albetis, M. 2021. Actualidad Porcina. Los Aceites Esenciales (AE) como aditivos alimenticios en los porcinos. Available: https://actualidadporcina.com/los-aceites-esenciales-ae-como-aditivos-alimenticios-en-los-porcinos/. and Buenaño-Haro and Bravo-Sánchez et al. (2022) Buenaño-Haro, C.X. & Bravo-Sánchez, L.R. 2022. "Uso del jengibre (Zinger officinale) y cúrcuma (Curcuma longa) como aditivos fitobióticos en lechones posdestete". Revista Arbitrada Interdisciplinaria KOINONIA, 7(14): 32-43, ISSN: 2542-3088. http://dx.doi.org/10.35381/r.k.v7i14.1853 refers that essential oils influence on animals, according to the supplementation level performed to improve the intake , weight gain, feed conversion, and food digestibility, when optimizing the absorption capacity of villus in new weaning pigs.
De Haro (2015) De Haro, M. 2015. Efecto de los aceites esenciales de plantas aromático-medicinales en la fase de transición de animales monogástricos. Tesis de Doctorado, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, España, pp. 318. showed that the pancreas as the intestinal mucus can stimulate by means of the active principles of essential oils, since they accelerate the organism regulation and promote the digestion for the food intake will be more efficient.
In a study with tea essential oil and a control diet, for 21 days, Dong et al. (2019) Dong, L., Zhong, Z., Wang, S., Wang, H., Huo, Y., Wei, Z. & Yu, L. 2019. "Dietary tea tree oil supplementation improves the intestinal mucosal immunity of weanling piglets". Animal Feed Science and Technology, 255: 114205, ISSN: 0377-8401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114209. showed that the animals treated with the essential oil increased the daily food intake, daily weigh gain, villus length, interleucine content, tumoral-α necrosis factor (TNFα), the genetic expression of the thermal shock protein and the activation of the Notch2 signalization in the small intestine.
The use of essential oils in post-weaning piglet diets is the purpose of relatively new study in Ecuador. The development of this research lines is of great importance due the great diversity of active principles which are in the plant resources, and have beneficial effects in health and productive performance of animals.
Conclusions
⌅Under this research conditions is viable the use of essential oil of wild garlic as natural additive in post-weaning piglets diets, with the purpose of reducing the dependence on antibiotics and synthetic growth promoters of the food which are commercialize in Ecuador for this category.