The effects of dietary Houttuynia cordata and Taraxacum officinale extract powder on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics and meat quality in finishing pigs

A total of 144 [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] finishing pigs with initial body weight (BW) of 50.09 ± 0.51 kg were used to evaluate the effects of Houttuynia cordata (H. cordata) and Taraxacum officinale (T. officinale) extract powder on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics and meat quality in pig. Pigs were allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design according to their sex and BW (12 replicates with 4 pigs per pen (2 gilts and 2 barrows)). Dietary treatments included: 1) CON (basal diet), 2) H1 (CON + H. cordata extract powder 1 g/kg) and 3) T1 (CON + T. officinale extract powder 1 g/kg). Pigs fed H1 diets increased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake ADFI (P < 0.05) compared with those fed CON diet throughout the experiment. The inclusion of T1 led to a greater ADG (P < 0.05) than CON treatment during the whole experiment. Administration of T1 improved (P < 0.05) ADFI compared with CON treatment during 0 to 5 and 0 to 10 weeks. Dietary H1 treatment led to a higher dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) digestibility than CON group (P < 0.05). Pigs fed the T1 treatment increased the N digestibility compared with CON treatment (P < 0.05). Supplementation of H1 led to a higher (P < 0.05) white blood cell (WBC) concentration than CON group at the end of 5 weeks. Both T1 and H1 treatments increased (P < 0.05) Longissimus muscle (LM) area and the 2-Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value than those in CON group. In conclusion, the inclusion of H. cordata extract powder (1 g/kg) increased growth performance, DM and N digestibility, blood WBC concentration, meat LM area and TBARS value, whereas T. officinale extract powder supplementation (1 g/kg) increased growth performance, meat LM area and TBARS value in finishing pigs.