ABSTRACT
The effects of creep feeding and different levels of soybean meal (SBM) and cowpea meal on the intestinal morphology and faecal characteristics were investigated in weaners. Prior to the feeding trial, one group of piglets was creep-fed and the other noncreep-fed. The two groups of piglets were weaned at 28 days and randomly assigned to four different diets whose main sources of protein were: T1-skimmed milk powder (control); T2-31 % soybean meal; t(3)-15% soybean meal and 12 % skimmed milk powder; and T(4)-100% raw cowpea meal. Live weight gain was highest in the T1 group, and least in the T(4) group. At weaning only the noncreep-fed weaners showed villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia, but at 7 days postweaning these changes were evident in all groups except the control and were more severe in the noncreep (T2,T3) and cowpea-fed groups. At 21 days postweaning, only noncreep cowpea-fed pigs showed a reduced villus height when compared to the T1 group. A mild diarrhoea was generally observed in all noncreep-fed weaners but its onset was more rapid (P < 0.01) and the duration longer (P < 0.05) in the T2 and T4 pigs than in T3 and T1 groups. A lower faecal pH was observed in weaners that had diarrhoea when compared with a pH of 7.1 in pigs with normal moisture. The glucose content of the faeces was found to be significantly higher (P<0.05) in the T2 and T4 groups. The observations of enteropathology and low growth performance in the T4 group suggest that feeding raw cowpea to weaners is capable of inducing considerable antigenicity in the intestinal mucosa, causing damage and a consequent decrease in productivity. However, the introduction of creepfeeding before weaning appears to have some ameliorative effects.
