Effects of functional egg yolk powder on diarrhea occurrence,fecal E. coli and growth performance of weaning piglets

A 28 day-feeding experiment was conducted to determine the effects of the functional egg yolk powder as a feed ingredient on the growth performance,diarrhea occurrence,fecal microbe and the morphology of intestinal villi of the piglets.The results showed that(a) the diarrhea occurrence rates among the piglets in GroupⅠand Ⅱdecreased by 54.8%(P0.01) and 84.3%(P0.01),respectively,as compared to the control;and,(b) the fecal Escherichia coli at the 28th days decreased in GroupⅠ(P0.01),while decreased during the entire testing period in GroupⅡ(P0.01).The heights of the duodenum villi of piglets in GroupⅠand Ⅱwere greater than those in the control group(P0.01).The average daily piglet weight gain was significantly higher in both Group I and II than that of Control Group(P0.05),increased by 14.4% and 15.3%,respectively.The average daily feed intakes of the piglets in GroupⅠand Ⅱwere higher than that of the control(P0.05) by 11.70% and 6.86%,respectively.The feed conversion efficiencies for GroupⅠand Ⅱwere lower than that of the control(P0.05) by 5.55% and 6.50%,respectively.The results indicated that addition of the functional egg yolk powder in the feed could effectively inhibit the growth of the enterotoxigenic E.coli preventing piglets from diarrhea and improve their growth performances.