Effects of crude red kidney bean lectin (phytohaemagglutinin) exposure on performance, health, feeding behavior, and gut maturation of pigs at weaning

¹ Dept. of Agricultural Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
² Dept. of Cell and Organism Biology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden
³ Department of Cell and Organism Biology, University of Lund, Sweden

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: annica.thomsson{at}jbt.slu.se.

	Abstract

The aim of this study was to obtain information which could help to ease the weaning transition in commercial pig production. Before weaning, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) in the form of a crude preparation of red kidney bean lectin, was fed by gavage to 24 cross-bred ((Swedish Landrace x Yorkshire) x Hampshire) piglets whereas 24 control piglets were fed -lactalbumin by gavage, to study the effect on growth, occurrence of post weaning diarrhea, feeding behavior, and some anatomical and physiological traits of the gastrointestinal tract. Within the litter, piglets were randomly assigned to PHA treatment or control, and remained in the same pen from the start (PHA exposure at 7 d before weaning), until the end of the experiment (14 d post weaning). Weaning took place at the age of 31 to 34 d. Pigs treated with PHA grew faster (P = 0.013) during the first wk post weaning, and tended to have less total diarrhea scores (P = 0.10) than did control pigs. On d 5 after weaning, piglets treated with PHA spent more time eating (P = 0.028) than control pigs. No immunostimulating effect of PHA, measured by plasma IgG, could be detected. An increase in the intestinal barrier properties before weaning as a response to PHA treatment was demonstrated in intestinal absorption studies using Na-fluorescein and BSA as gavage-fed markers. Less uptake (measured as plasma concentrations) during a 24-h study period of the marker molecule Na-fluorescein occurred and numerically less levels of BSA were observed in comparison to studies in control pigs of the same age. A total of 12 pigs (6 control, 6 PHA treated) were euthanized on the day of weaning for analyses of gastrointestinal properties. The PHA-treated pigs tended to have longer total small intestinal length (P = 0.063) than that of the control pigs. The enzyme profile of the jejunal epithelium responded to PHA exposure with a decrease in lactase activity and increase in maltase and sucrase activities, which is similar to changes normally observed after weaning. No differences were found in the size of the pancreas or in its contents of trypsin and amylase. In conclusion, exposing piglets to crude red kidney bean lectin for 3 d during the week before weaning led to changes in both performance and small intestinal functional properties in a direction toward a more successful weaning.

Key Words: Feeding behaviour, Pigs, Lectins, Maturity, Performance traits, Weaning

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