Impacts of zinc caproate supplementation on growth performance, intestinal health, anti-inflammatory activity, and Zn homeostasis in weaned piglets challenged with Escherichia coli K88

Table 2 Effects of dietary ZnCA supplementation on growth performance and fecal scores in piglets¹

Parameters	Dietary treatments²				SEM³	P-value
Parameters	CON	NC	PC	ZnCA	SEM³	P-value
Initial BW, kg	7.76	7.77	7.85	7.74	0.194	0.998
Final BW, kg	14.58^b	13.15^b	14.92^b	15.63^a	0.317	0.031
ADG, g	346^a,b	273^b	361^a,b	398^a	15.687	0.026
ADFI, g	620	557	646	660	23.259	0.429
G:F	0.28^a,b	0.25^b	0.28^a,b	0.30^a	0.006	0.043
Diarrhea score	0.79^a,b	0.99^a	0.58^b	0.58^b	0.059	0.024

BW Body weight, ADG Average daily gain, ADFI Average daily feed intake, G:F Ggain-to-feed ratio
¹Data represent the mean of 6 replicate pens per treatment
²CON: basal diet + saline solution; NC: basal diet + ETEC K88 challenge; PC: basal diet + 2,500 mg/kg of Zn (ZnO) + ETEC K88 challenge; ZnCA: basal diet + 1,600 mg/kg of Zn (ZnCA) + ETEC K88 challenge
³SEM: standard error of the mean
^a,bMeans with similar superscripts within the same row showed no significant difference (P > 0.05)

ISSN: 2049-1891