Effects of dietary supplementation of diacylglycerol on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal noxious gas emission, and hematology parameters in weaned piglets

A total of 120 21-day-old weaned piglets [(Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc] were used to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of diacylglycerol (DAG) on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal noxious gas emission, and hematology parameters in a 42-day experiment. All pigs were randomly assigned to 3 groups based on the initial body weight (6.47 ± 0.45 kg). There were 8 replicate pens per treatment and 5 pigs (three barrows and two gilts) per pen. The DAG in the levels of 0, 0.05, or 0.10 % were used to supplement to the corn-soybean meal-based basal diet. Piglets fed the diet supplemented with graded levels of DAG linearly increased the average daily gain (ADG) during days 22-42 (P=0.027) and 1-42 (P=0.048). In addition, a tendency in the linear reduction of fecal ammonia (P=0.095), hydrogen sulfide (P=0.078), and methyl mercaptans (P=0.085) emission was observed by increasing the DAG levels in the diet. However, feeding pigs with DAG containing diet had no significant effects on the nutrient digestibility and hematology parameters. Therefore, the suitable dose of DAG used in the diet for weaned piglets was at 0.10% to improve ADG and reduce fecal gas emission.