Many fibre sources can help the adaptation of piglets at weaning, improving the growth. In this study, the effects of a dietary crude fibre concentrate (CFC) on piglet's growth was investigated. From 31 to 51 days of age, 108 weaned piglets (D×(Lw×L)), had access to two isofibrous, isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets, supplemented with 1% of CFC (CFC group) or not (control (CON) group). From days 52 to 64 all piglets received the same starter diet. During the dietary treatment period the CFC group showed higher average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed efficiency (P<0.001) than CON group. At 64 days of age, BW was higher in CFC group compared with CON group (P<0.001). Blood samples were collected at days 31, 38, 45 and 52 of age. From days 31 to 52 significant differences in the somatotropic axis between groups were observed. In particular, growth hormone levels were higher only at the end of the 1st week of dietary treatment (P<0.05) in CFC group animals compared with CON group animals. The IGF-I trend was similar between groups even if the IGF-I levels were higher in the CFC group than CON group 1 week after starting treatment (P<0.01). The IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) levels were higher in the first 2 weeks of dietary treatment and lower in the 3rd week in CON group compared with CFC group (P<0.01). Specifically, the IGFBP-3 profile was consistent with that of IGF-I in CFC group but not in CON group. At the same time, an increase of leptin in CFC compared with CON group was observed (P<0.05). Piglets fed the CFC diet showed a lower diarrhoea incidence (P<0.05) and a lower number of antibiotic interventions (P<0.05) than CON diet from 31 to 51 days of age. Pig-major acute-phase protein plasma level (P<0.01) and interleukin-6 gene expression (P<0.05) were higher in CON group than CFC group at the end of 1st week of dietary treatment. In conclusion, this study showed that CFC diet influences the hormones related to energy balance enhancing the welfare and growth of piglets. Furthermore, the increase in feed intake during 3 weeks of dietary treatment improved the feed efficiency over the entire post-weaning period.
Keywords: crude fibre concentrate; functional fibre; growth; piglets; weaning.