Effect of aged garlic extract and allicin administration to sows during pregnancy and lactation on body weight gain and gastrointestinal tract development of piglets. Part I.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of perinatal administration of aged garlic extract (AGE) and allicin to pregnant sows on body weight gain and gastrointestinal tract development in their piglets, The animals were kept under standard rearing conditions and fed well balanced diet ad libitum. The piglets were obtained from 18 sows and divided into 3 equal experimental groups. Moreover, the experimental animals were divided additionally into 8 age-differentiated subgroups, namely non-suckling newborn piglets and piglets 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, 35, and 56 d of age. Starting from the 91(st) d of pregnancy up to piglets' weaning on the 28(th) d of their life, the sows were daily treated per os with AGE or allicin, whereas the control group received the vehiculum. Daily body weight gain was estimated. To determine the weight of internal organs and length of the small intestine, the piglets were sacrificed according to the experimental design and the gastrointestinal tract was isolated. The positive influence of AGE and allicin administered to pregnant and lactating sows on body weight gain and gastrointestinal tract development of piglets was demonstrated. It seems that garlic supplements may be considered as an attractive alternative for antibiotics that are widely used in pigs' nutrition.