Effects of dietary supplementation with ethanolamine on intestine development and growth performance of weaned piglets1

Ethanolamine (Etn) is the base constituent of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), a major phospholipid in animal cell membranes. Although Etn is toxic at relatively high levels, many types of epithelial cells require Etn for proliferation. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with Etn on intestine development and growth performance of weaned piglets. A total of 180 piglets were weaned at age 21 d and assigned randomly to 1 of 3 treatments, consisting of a basal diet, the basal diet with 100 ppm Etn supplementation, or the basal diet with 150 ppm Etn supplementation, for a 14-d period with 6 pens per treatment and 10 piglets per pen. On d 14, 1 piglet was randomly selected from each pen for tissue sampling. Dietary supplementation with Etn enhanced stomach weight, small intestine (SI) weight, SI length, SI weight/SI length, and SI weight/BW of weaned piglets. Moreover, dietary supplementation with Etn improved ADG and ADFI of weaned piglets. In conclusion, the results of the present experiment indicated that Etn benefited intestine development and growth performance of weaned piglets, which suggests that Etn can be explored as a feed additive to improve intestine development of weaned animals.