The Effect of Tannin-Coated Feed on Growth Performance in Nursery Piglets When Zinc Is Partially Replaced with an Efficient Alternative to Zinc Oxide
Release date:
2025-08-01
| Tannins have proven highly effective in controlling diarrhea in piglets and safeguarding intestinal health, making them a top choice for many manufacturers—and they’ve even become the go-to star product as a zinc oxide alternative. However, tannins’ inherent characteristics also pose limitations that currently restrict their broader adoption in animal feed formulations. "Wei Chang Ning" and "An Chang Fen M40" are tannin-based products developed by Guangdong Nan Kun Biotechnology Co., Ltd., leveraging high-quality overseas tannin ingredients combined with cutting-edge encapsulation technology. This innovative approach ensures that the products maintain excellent feed palatability while allowing for a controlled release of tannins—first in the digestive tract’s initial segments and then gradually in the intestinal tract’s latter sections. By doing so, these products help soothe damaged areas of the gut, reduce diarrhea in animals, and ultimately enhance overall livestock performance. |
This study uses nursery piglets as the research subject, with the following objectives: ① To investigate how coating tannins combined with low-dose, highly effective zinc oxide can replace high-dose conventional zinc oxide in improving the growth performance of nursery piglets; ② To compare the practical differences between two tannin products—Weichangning and Anchangfen M40—when applied at equivalent effective doses.
Materials and Methods
Experimental Design and Grouping
Table 1: Experimental Design
Group Don't | Levels of addition in the basal diet |
Control group | 2000 g/t conventional zinc oxide |
Trial Group 1 | 1200g/t Wei Chang Ning + 200 g/t naZnO |
Trial Group 2 | 1500 g/t Anchangfen M40 + 200 g/t naZnO |
Note: Anchangfen M40: Coated with natural plant tannins, with an effective tannin content of ≥40%; Wei Chang Ning: Coated with natural plant tannins, with an effective tannin content of ≥50%; Easy-to-drive Zinc N70: Water-soluble nano zinc oxide, with an effective ZnO content of ≥70%.
The trial involved 90 nursery piglets with an average body weight of 13.5 ± 1.2 kg, randomly divided into 3 treatment groups, with each group consisting of 3 replicates and 10 piglets per replicate. The trial lasted for 27 days.
Test location and time
Table 2: Experimental Diet Formulation and Nutritional Composition
Ingredient Composition | Percentage % | Nutritional value | Content |
Corn | 59.51 | Digestible Energy ((Kcal/kg)) | 3390 |
Puffed corn | 9.00 | Crude Protein (%) | 18.0% |
46% Soybean Meal | 24.00 | Calcium (%) | 0.80% |
Fishmeal | 3.00 | Available Phosphorus (%) | 0.39% |
Lysine | 0.18 | Lysine (%) | 1.45% |
Methionine | 0.10 | Egg + Cystine (%) | 0.85% |
Tryptophan | 0.01 | Threonine (%) | 0.91% |
Premix | 4.00 | Tryptophan (%) | 0.25% |
Total | 99.80 |
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Test indicator measurement: Daily record the feed intake, number and weight of dead or culled pigs, and calculate the average daily gain, daily feed consumption, feed-to-meat ratio, as well as the mortality and diarrhea rates for each phase of the trial.
Results and Analysis
Table 4: Effects of Different Types of Tannin Products on Growth Performance in Weaned Piglets
Project | 2000g ZnO | 1200g Wei Chang Ning +200g NaZnO | 1500g Anchangfen M40 +200g NaZnO |
Initial weight (kg) | 13.03 ± 0.97 | 14.88 ± 0.44 | 12.88 ± 0.38 |
Final weight (kg) | 30.56 ± 1.87 | 33.12 ± 1.48 | 31.08 ± 0.80 |
Total Weight Gain (kg) | 17.54 ± 1.65 | 18.24 ± 1.15 | 18.20 ± 0.070 |
Average daily weight gain (g) | 649 ± 61 | 675 ± 43 | 674 ± 26 |
Total Feed Intake (kg) | 32.38 ± 2.95 | 33.41 ± 1.98 | 32.53 ± 1.15 |
Average daily feed intake (kg) | 1.20 ± 0.11 | 1.24 ± 0.07 | 1.20 ± 0.04 |
Feed-to-meat ratio | 1.85 ± 0.01a | 1.84 ± 0.01a | 1.79 ± 0.01b |
Note: In the same column, identical letters under the trademark indicate that the differences are not statistically significant. P >0.05), different lowercase letters indicate significant differences P <0.05), same as in the table below.
The results show that adding either 1200 g/t Weichangning plus 200 g/t NaZnO or 1500 g/t Anchangfen M40 plus 200 g/t NaZnO to the basal diet during the rearing phase effectively replaced the conventional 2000 g/t zinc oxide, leading to improved weight gain, better feed-to-meat ratios, and enhanced performance in weaned piglets—without any incidence of diarrhea. Compared to Weichangning, Anchangfen M40 demonstrated a significant improvement in the feed-to-meat ratio.
Summary
| Under the conditions of this trial, coating with tannins combined with a low dose of highly effective zinc oxide can completely replace conventional zinc oxide while further enhancing weight gain, reducing feed-to-meat ratio, and minimizing diarrhea—thereby improving the production performance of nursery pigs. At equivalent effective doses, Weichangning demonstrated slightly better effects on nursery pig performance compared to Anchangfen M40. |
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