Wet feeding and water and rations with sweetener for weaned 21-d old piglets and its effects on intestinal histology and enzymatic development

An experiment was conducted with piglets allocated in eight treatments combinations with different types of diet (dry and wet), rations (with and without sweetener) and two types of drinking water (with and without sweetener), offered after weaning to study the effects on histology and intestine enzymatic development. Intestinal villi height, crypt depth, and relation between villi height and crypt depth of duodenum and jejunum, jejunum protein content and enzyme activity of maltase, sucrase and dipeptidase were evaluated. Thirty two Large White x Landrace castrated male piglets weaned at 21 days were utilized. At weaning the piglets were allocated to the treatments during 8 days. It was used a randomized block to study a factorial 2 x 2 x 2 with four replications. The results showed differences in duodenum height of villi for wet diet and ration with sweetener. Probably, the wet diet was better than dry diet, improving the quality of the intestinal tract. Also significant differences were found in the relationship between duodenum villi height and crypt depth for ration with sweetener. There were differences in enzyme activity of sucrase and maltase for water without sweetener. These results were different from initial hipothesis, where the water with sweetener would be better to improve the intestinal development. The experiment was conducted during a critical phase after weaning. It is possible that the results were influenced by this period.

enzyme; intestine; histology; swine; water; wet feeding