Sodium salts of medium chain fatty acids on performance in piglets

In the last DPP 2018 in Brisbane (Australia), Norel presented a trial evaluating the effect of DICOSAN (DIC) as a source of medium chain fatty acids on performance parameters in piglets in starter feeds (42 to 60d of age). A total of 320 piglets, with 42d were distributed into 8 pens with 20 piglets per pen. There were two treatments: CON, control diet with no additives nor antibiotics; DIC, control diet plus DICOSAN at 1kg/t of feed. Performance results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA using GLM procedure of SSPS v. 19.0, with initial BW as covariate. Microbial quantification of lactobacillus, enterobacteriaceae, bacteroides, bifidobacteria and total bacteriawas performed by qPCR. Furthermore, the Gut Index that relates three bacterial groups, such as lactobacillus and bifidobacteria considered as beneficial bacteria and enterobacteriaceae associated to dysbiosis processes, was also calculated. The performance results showed that at 60d, DIC piglets were heavier than CON (16.6 vs 16.9 Kg, P=0.02) and there were no differences in feed intake nor in feed conversion ratio. The most important numerical differences observed in microbiology were for lactobacillus (7.69 vs 7.84 log CFU, for CON and DIC, P>0.10), however no more significant differences were observed in any bacterial population or in the Gut Index. It was concluded that DICOSAN could be used as a performance booster for piglets.