increase the average daily gain and feed/gain of weaned piglets. On the
other hand growth performance in the higher palygorskite concentration
groups (3000mg/kg) did not significantly improve. This was in
line with a previous study which reported that a lower concentration
of clay in the diet seems more effective than a higher concentration
(Oguz and Kurtoglu, 2000). The adverse effects of higher concentrations
of palygorskite may be due to the capacity of absorption of nutrients in
the feed, which may affect the regular utilization of essential nutrients.
In summary, our study evaluated the effects of dietary supplementationwith
palygorskite on the growth performance, rate of diarrhea,
and intestinal integrity in weaned piglets. Dietary supplementation with
2000 mg/kg palygorskite improves growth performance and reduces
the incidence of diarrhea in weaned piglets. The addition of palygorskite
to the diet of weaned piglets positively affected the intestinal villus
diameter, and reduced the concentrations of endotoxin and diamine
oxidase in plasma.