Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology
Article

Supplementation of protease with low protein diets improves incidence of frequency and nitrogen metabolism in weaned pigs

Jaewoo An1, Jihwan Lee2, Minho Song3, Hanjin Oh1, Seyeon Chang1, Dongcheol Song1, Hyunah Cho1, Sehyun Park1, Kyeongho Jeon1, Hyeunbum Kim4,*, Jinho Cho1
1Department of animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
2Department of Poultry Science, University of Georgia (UGA), Athens 30602, United States.
3Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
4Department of Animal Resource and Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Hyeunbum Kim, Department of Animal Resource and Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea, Republic of. E-mail: hbkim@dankook.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2024 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Aug 04, 2023; Revised: Oct 04, 2023; Accepted: Mar 10, 2024

Published Online: Mar 13, 2024

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different crude protein (CP) levels and protease (PT) supplementation on effect in weaned pigs. A total of 24 barrow weaned pig, 7-week-old and with an initial weight of 10.94 ± 1.26 kg, were performed in the 2-week experiment. The experiment followed a 2 × 2 factorial design with two levels of CP (18.78% and 16.92%) and two levels of PT supplementation (0, 0.1%). No difference was observed in growth performance by the variations in CP and PT levels. In fecal score, the low CP (LP) diet showed an increased frequency of 0 scores compared to the high CP (HP) diet. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM) increased during the first week in the LP diet compared to the HP diet. At second week, the ATTD of DM was increased in the LP diet compared to the HP diet and the ATTD of CP increased in the PT10 compared to the PT0. Also, DM had an interaction between CP and PT. In the ATTD of amino acids in the first week, the LP diet had a higher methionine digestibility than the HP diet, and the tryptophan digestibility was higher in the HP diet than the LP diet. In second week, the PT10 diet had a higher digestibility than the PT0 diet for indispensable amino acids excluding lysine and tryptophan, and for methionine, the LP diet had a higher digestibility than the HP diet. In the ATTD of indispensable amino acids, the digestibility of threonine, isoleucine, leucine, arginine, and methionine was higher in the PT10 diet compared to the PT0 diet. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and hydrogen sulfide (H<sub>2</sub>S) gas emissions were decreased in the LP diet and PT10 compared to HP and PT0. In the nitrogen utilization, total excretion decreased in the LP and PT10 compared to HP and PT0, and the nitrogen retention ratio increased at second week. In this study, supplementation of PT in the LP diet can improve weaned pig’s fecal score, nutrients digestibility, BUN, H<sub>2</sub>S emission, and nitrogen utilization in weaned pigs.

Keywords: Protease; protein levels; nutrients digestibility; nitrogen utilization; weaned pig