Effect of Dietary Supplementation With α-Galactosidase Preparation and Stachyose on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Intestinal Bacterial Populations of Piglets

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with α-galactosidase preparation and stachyose on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intestinal bacterial populations of piglets. In Experiment I 72 crossbred piglets were allotted to three treatments, i.e. 1) control (basal) diet, 2) α-Gal1 and 3) α-Gal5, the basal diet supplemented with 0.01% and 0.05% α-galactosidase preparation (α-Gal), respectively. Average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not influenced by α-Gal supplementation. In Experiment II 72 crossbred weanling piglets were randomly assigned to four treatments with a complete factorial design, i.e. 1) basal diet, 2) basal diet with 0.01% α-Gal supplementation, 3) basal diet with 1% stachyose supplementation and 4) basal diet with 1% stachyose and 0.01% α-Gal supplementation. Average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were influenced by α-Gal and stachyose supplementation. The ileal digestibility of stachyose, raffinose, gross energy and crude protein was improved significantly by α-Gal supplementation. The microbial populations in the intestine were modified by both α-Gal and stachyose supplementation. The data suggested that stachyose supplementation had an adverse effect on the growth performance of piglets and α-Gal supplementation could ameliorate it, especially in younger pigs.