EFFECTS OF DIETARY SOYBEAN AND COWPEA ON GUT MORPHOLOGY AND FECAL COMPOSITION IN CREEP AND NONCREEP-FED PIGS

The effects of creep feeding and different levels of soybean meal (SBM ) and cowpea meal on the intestinal morphology and faecal characterist ics were investigated in weaners. Prior to the feeding trial, one grou p of piglets was creep-fed and the other noncreep-fed. The two groups of piglets were weaned at 28 days and randomly assigned to four differ ent diets whose main sources of protein were: T-1-skimmed milk powder (control); T-2-31 % soybean meal; T-3-15 % soybean meal and 12 % skimm ed milk powder; and T-4-100 % raw cowpea meal. Live weight gain was hi ghest in the T-1 group, and least in the T-4 group. At weaning only th e noncreep-fed weaners showed villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia, bu t at 7 days postweaning these changes were evident in all groups excep t the control and were more severe in the noncreep (T-2, T-3) and cowp ea-fed groups. At 21 days postweaning, only noncreep cowpea-fed pigs s howed a reduced villus height when compared to the T, group. A mild di arrhoea was generally observed in all noncreep-fed weaners but its ons et was more rapid (P < 0.01) and the duration longer (P < 0.05) in the T-2 and T-4 pigs than in T-3 and T-1 groups. A lower faecal pH was ob served in weaners that had diarrhoea when compared with a pH of 7.1 in pigs with normal moisture. The glucose content of the faeces was foun d to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the T-2 and T-4 groups. The observations of enteropathology and low growth performance in the T-4 group suggest that feeding raw cowpea to weaners is capable of induci ng considerable antigenicity in the intestinal mucosa, causing damage and a consequent decrease in productivity. However, the introduction o f creepfeeding before weaning appears to have some ameliorative effect s.