Impact of fucosidase on pig growth performance and enteric methane production

Introduction: Reducing environmental impact while maintaining high growth performance is an urgent challenge in pig production. In-feed fucosidase may cleave fucose from intestinal mucins and release it into the gut lumen, hypothesized to support growth of beneficial gut bacteria and inhibit methanogens. This study therefore aimed to investigate the effect of fucosidase on pig growth performance and enteric methane production. Materials and Methods: A total of 240 crossbreed piglets (weaning age 22 days) from 80 sows were included. Three treatment groups (Fuc2, Fuc7, Fuc16) were fed control diets amended with 100 mg fucosidase per kg feed for 2, 7, and 16 weeks, respectively; the control group (Control) received no fucosidase. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily gain (ADG) were measured. Intestinal digesta were collected on days 10, 43, and 114 for in vitro gas production analysis and quantification of methanogens. Selected pigs (n=80) were placed in respiration chambers (48h) to determine in vivo gas emissions on days 43, 78, and 106. Data were analyzed by mixed effects models and the expected increases from fucosidase amendment were examined with one-sided tests. Results: Performance did not differ significantly between control and treated groups (p>0.05). The quantification of methanogens did not show significant differences between the fucosidase groups and the Control (p> 0.05). On day 106, the in vivo methane emission was lower in all three fucosidase groups compared to the Control (p<0.05), and the in vitro methane production tended to be lower in the Fuc16 group compared to the Control (p=0.07) on day 114. Conclusion: The results suggest in-feed fucosidase provision as a potential strategy for mitigating enteric methane emission in pig production.