Effects of dietary germanium biotite on growth performance, cholesterol contents and pollutant excretion in finishing pigs.
- O. S. Kwon, I. H. Kim, J. Y. Hong, B. J. Min, W. B. Lee, and Y. K. Jung, Department of Animal Resource & Science, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea, SEOBONG BioBestech Co., Ltd.

A study was conducted to determine the effect of dietary germanium biotite on growth performance, plasma characteristics, backfat thickness and fecal ammonia gas concentration in finishing pigs. A total of seventy-two finishing pigs (initial body weight 78.56 ± 1.32 kg) were used for 50 days in this experiment. The treatments included ⅰ) Control (CON; basal diet), ⅱ) GB1.0 (basal diet + germanium biotite 1.0%), ⅲ) GB3.0 diet (basal diet + germanium biotite 3.0%). Pigs fed GB1.0 diet grew faster than pigs fed CON diet and GB3.0 diet (P＜0.05). Also, pigs fed CON diet showed higher (P＜0.05) ADFI than pigs fed GB3.0 diet. Pigs fed GB diets had improved gain/feed compared to pigs fed CON diet (P＜0.05). Total - and VLDL concentrations in plasma of pigs fed GB diets treatments were significantly decreased compared to those in pig fed CON diet (P＜0.05). However, HDL – cholesterol concentration in plasma of the pig was significantly increased compared to those in pigs fed CON diet (P＜0.05). Pigs fed CON diet exerted higher (P＜0.05) backfat thickness than pigs fed GB1.0 (5.4%, 27.19 vs 25.71mm) and GB3.0 (16.1%, 27.19 vs 22.81mm) diets. Feces from CON treatment were higher in fecal ammonia gas concentration than faces from pigs fed GB1.0 (64.1%, 17.00 vs 6.10mg/kg) and GB3.0 (61.8%, 17.00 vs 6.50mg/kg) treatments (P＜0.05). In conclusion, the results suggest that dietary supplementation of germanium biotite was an effective means for improving growth performance and for decreasing Total – and LDL + VLDL – plasma cholesterols, backfat thickness and fecal ammonia gas concentration.

Key Words : Pigs, germanium biotite, performance, cholesterol, digestibility, fecal ammonia gas