Maintenance of villous height and crypt depth in piglets by providing continuous nutrition after weaning

Abstract Thirty-two piglets weaned at 28 days of age were used to test the hypothesis that maintenance of nutrition after weaning would prevent the normal decline in villous height and increase in crypt depth and hence preserve the structure and function of the small intestine. Piglets were allocated to one of four treatments at weaning: (1) control group killed at weaning; (2) piglets offered a dry starter diet ad libitum ; (3) piglets offered ewes' fresh milk; and (4) piglets offered ewes' fresh milk plus 20 g t-glutamine per I. Piglets in treatments (3) and (4) were offered ewes' fresh milk every 2 h in a feeding schedule that increased from 1·2 I per piglet on the 1st day after weaning to 2·4 I on days 4 and 5. On the 5th day all piglets were killed and samples of small intestine were taken for histological and biochemical examination. Feeding ewes' milk or ewes' milk plus 20 g L-glutamine per I maintained (P > 0·05) villous height and crypt depth compared with piglets killed at weaning. In contrast, piglets given a dry starter diet had shorter villi (P 0·05) in their intestinal mucosa. Piglets given the starter diet proportionately grew from 0·49 to 0·62 more slowly (P 0·05), but consumed proportionately 0·30 less energy (P 0·05). Significant correlations existed between voluntary food intake and villous height at the proximal jejunum for piglets given the starter diet and ewes' milk (P < 0·05 and P = 0·073, respectively). In turn, villous height was significantly correlated (r = 0·78 to 0·87, P < 0·05) with the rate of body-weight gain after weaning in these two groups. For piglets offered ewes' milk plus glutamine, an increase in DM intake was associated only with increases in crypt depth (P < 0·01). These data show that the structure and function of the small intestine can be preserved when a milk diet is given after weaning, and suggest an association between food intake and villous height in determining post-weaning weight gain.