Effect of dietary Achyranthes japonica extract on growth performance of growing pigs and absorption rate of quercetin in blood

This study was done to investigate the effects of the incorporation of <italic>Achyranthes japonica</italic> extracts (AJE) in diet on the production parameters of growing pigs. Exp 1: Total, 105 crossbred pigs (average body weight: 24.47 ± 2.46 kg) were used in a 6-week feeding trial. Pigs (seven replicates, five pigs per pen) were allotted randomly to three treatments. Dietary treatments: CON (basal diet); basal diet with 0.025% AJE, and basal diet + 0.050% AJE). Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbial count, and fecal noxious gas were assessed in this study. Average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) were not affected by the addition of up to 0.05% AJE. In the case of apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), and digestible energy (DE) were not changed in 3^rd and 6^th weeks of the feeding trial through the addition of AJE up to 0.05% in the growing pig diet. In microbial count, <italic>Lactobacillus</italic> and <italic>E. coli</italic> count at 3^rd and 6^th week was similar in all the treatment diets. The inclusion of AJE at levels up to 0.05% in growing pig diet had no effect on the production of NH₃, H₂S, acetic acid, and CO₂ in the feces. After ending the Exp 1, a total of nine pigs were divided into three treatment groups. Treatment diets were included, TRT1, basal diet + powder quercetin 30g; TRT2, basal diet + powder quercetin 150g; TRT3, basal diet + powder quercetin 300g. Rate of absorption in blood was increased with the higher dose of quercetin. The results suggested incorporation of AJE up to 0.05% has no significant effect on ADG, ADFI, and G:F, as well as DM, N, and DE digestibility, fecal microbial count, and fecal noxious gas emission in growing pigs, even though no negative effect was found.