Effects of Imprinting Impacts through Supplementation of Star Anise during

Abstract

The objectives of these experiments were 1) to investigate the effects of dietary star anise (Illicium verum, SA) supplementation during gestation and lactation on the performance of multiparous sows and their progeny until 21 days post-weaning, 2) to evaluate the effects of dietary SA supplementation during late gestation and post-weaning on the performance of multiparous sows and growth performance of their progeny, and 3) to investigate the effects of SA supplementation in growing to finishing pigs after prenatal exposure of SA during late gestation on growth performance and meat quality in pigs.

Experiment I. Effects of Dietary Star Anise (Illicium verum) Supplementation during Late Gestation and Lactation on the Performance of Multiparous Sows and Their Progeny until 21 Days Post-weaning

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of star anise (SA) supplementation during late gestation and lactation on the performance of multiparous sows and their progeny until 21 d post-weaning. A total of 40 pregnant sows [Yorkshire × Landrace] were housed in an individual stall and allocated on the basis of body weight (BW), backfat thickness (BFT) and parity in a completely randomized design (CRD) with one of two treatments, either 0% or 0.1% SA supplementation. After lactation period, a total of 160 weaning pigs were used to investigate imprinting effect of SA on growth performance and antioxidant status. Dietary treatments were equally allocated as their litter. In late gestation, sows fed SA showed significantly higher serum total antioxidant status (TAS) activity (P=0.03) and a tendency of increased lactation average daily feed intake (P=0.08). When sows were fed SA during late gestation tended to increase litter weight at 21 d of lactation as well as significantly increase litter weight gain (P=0.02, P=0.04, respectively). Sows consumed SA in late gestation tended to have lower protein in sow milk (P=0.07). In contrast, supplying SA in gestation diet resulted in increasing lactose content in the milk (P<0.01). Gestation × lactation effect was noted in the total solid and free fatty acid (FFA) concentration of sow milk at 21d lactation (P=0.06, P=0.04, respectively). At weaning, supplying SA diet during late gestation reduced concentration of serum cortisol in piglet and epinephrine at weaning (P=0.01, P=0.04, respectively). Moreover, there was a gestation × lactation interaction in serum cortisol concentration of piglet (P=0.01). Supplementing SA during late gestation tended to enhance gain to feed (G:F) ratio of weaning pigs at one and two weeks (P=0.08). Similarly, supplementing SA during lactation increased gain to feed ratio both in two and three weeks and overall period (P=0.03, P=0.05, respectively). The SA supplementation during lactation reduced serum cortisol concentration of weaning pigs in initial (P=0.05). Main effects of gestation, lactation, and gestation × lactation interactions were noted in serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity at initial and three week of weaning pigs (P<0.01, respectively). Therefore, our results suggested that inclusion of SA in gestation and lactation diet showed higher serum antioxidant properties in sows and increased lactose and free fatty acid in sow milk, consequently enhancing litter weight and feed efficiency at 21 d post-weaning.

Experiment II. Effects of Star Anise (Illicium verum) Supplementation during Late Gestation and Post-weaning on Performance of Sow and Their Progeny

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of star anise (SA) supplementation during late gestation and post-weaning on the performance of multiparous sows and their progeny. A total of 50 pregnant sows [Yorkshire × Landrace] were housed in an individual stall and allocated on the basis of body weight (BW), backfat thickness (BFT) and parity in a completely randomized design (CRD). Sows were offered SA treatment diets with 0.1% SA or control diet during late gestation. After lactation period, a total of 120 weaning pigs were used to investigate imprinting effect on weaning pigs growth performance. Piglets were fed treatments diet with 0.02 or 0.04% SA after weaning. In late gestation, there were no significant differences in physiological responses in relation to the effect of supplementing SA. There were no significant differences in number of piglets, litter weight change, and piglet weight during lactation period. When sows were fed control diet, high level fat contents and total solid in sow milk at 21d lactation were observed (P=0.01, respectively). Supplementing 0.04% SA during post-weaning tended to enhance ADG at two to four weeks (Weaning, P=0.09). Additionally, prenatal exposure during late gestation group showed lower ADFI at initial time to one week (Gestation, P=0.09). Supplementing 0.02% SA during post-weaning increased gain to feed ratio significantly at 0-1 week (Weaning, P=0.02). Prenatal exposure of SA improved the CV of piglets at weaning (Gestation, P=0.02) and 4 week after weaning (Gestation, P<0.01). Serum cortisol levels tended to be lower at 4 weeks after weaning for prenatal exposure piglets to control piglets (GxW, P<0.01). These results suggested that inclusion of SA in gestation and re-exposure through post-weaning diets enhanced uniformity of piglets as well as reduced stress level of piglets. And less than 0.02% SA supplementation in post-weaning diets recommended to observe imprinting impacts in weaning pigs.

Experiment III. Effects of Star Anise (Illicium verum) Supplementation during Growing to Finishing Periods after Prenatal Exposure of Star Anise on Growth Performance and Meat Quality in Pigs

The effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure with star anise (SA) flavor for young animals have been reported. However, the information on long term effects of re-exposure of flavor after prenatal exposure and meat quality impacts by long term supplementation of SA flavor is lacking. To investigate long term effect of SA in meat quality, a total of 120 growing pigs ([Yorkshire × Landrace] × Duroc), averaging 24.83±2.95 kg body weight were used in feeding trial. The experimental design was composed by two factors with factorial design for evaluating imprinting effects on growing-finishing pigs. The first factor was SA supplementation (0% or 0.1%) in late-gestation period of sows and the second factor was SA supplementation (0% or 0.02%) in growing-finishing period. There were no significant difference in body weight (BW) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) in growing to finishing phase (0-13week). However, ADG was increased as prenatal exposure and supplementation level of SA during growing-finishing period in 11-13week (GxL, P=0.03) and 8-13 week (GxL, P=0.04). In addition, there was a increase gain to feed ratio (G:F ratio) as prenatal exposure in 8-13week (Gestation, P=0.03) and overall period (Gestation, P=0.02). Prenatal exposure and re-exposure of SA flavor group showed improvement 46.67% of uniformity than control group (Gestation, P=0.05). Plasma cortisol was higher at prenatal SA flavor than control diets (Gestation, P=0.02) at 3 week. However, control diet treatment showed higher cortisol level at 12 week (Gestation, P=0.02). Prenatal SA flavor treatment showed higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) than control diet treatment at 9 week (Gestation, P<0.01). The lower pH of pork on 24 hour postmortem of carcass as prenatal exposure of SA through maternal diets observed (Gestation, P=0.03). Crude protein of pork decreased (Gestation, P=0.03) as prenatal impacts and crude fat increased as prenatal impacts (Gestation, P=0.03). The result suggested that supplementation SA during late gestation and re-exposure of SA flavor or supplementation during growing-finishing pigs improved growth performance of pigs without negative impacts of pork quality.