Korean Journal of Agricultural Science ISSN:2466-2402(Print) 2466-2410(Online) 농업과학연구

Synbiotics help to improve gut health by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria while glyconutrients provide a source of energy for the gut bacteria and may also have immunemodulating effects. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of this combination on fatty acid and meat quality characteristics of growing pigs. In a five-week experiment, 804 growing three-way crossbred ([Landrace × Yorkshire] × Duroc) pigs with an initial body weight of 31.90 ± 2.6 kg on average were assigned to two treatments: 1) CON (basal diet) and 2) TRT1 (basal diet + 0.3% glycozyme [synbiotics and glyconutrient]), each consisting of 402 pigs. The TRT1 groups showed significantly higher values of palmitoleic acid (C16:1), capric acid (C10:0), myristic acid (C14:0), lauric acid (C12:0), elaidic acid (C18:1, t), pentadecylic acid (C15:0), gondoic acid (C20:1), lignoceric acid (C24:0), and omega-6 : omega-3 in fat than the CON groups. Moreover, in the lean tissues of the pig, the levels of C12:0, C14:0, C17:0, and C20:1 were significantly higher in TRT1 than in CON. However, significant differences were not observed after glycozyme addition in pH, water holding capacity, cooking loss, longissimus muscle area, drip loss, meat color, and sensory evaluation parameters. To conclude, the positive results of the fatty acid composition indicate that glycozyme may be an effective pig feed additive.