Novel recombinant ferritin from Perinereis sp. alters iron profiles and improves the performance of weaned pigs

Abstract The current study evaluated the effect of dietary recombinant ferritin (FER) from Perinereis sp. expressed in E. coli as an intracellular protein and Bacillus subtilis as an extracellular protein on serum profiles, growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), diarrhea scores and fecal microbiota in weanling pigs. A total of 160 weanling pigs [(Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc] with an average BW of (6.62 ± 0.33 kg; 21 d of age) were used in a 42 d study. Piglets were randomly allotted to 4 experimental diets with 8 replicate pens and 5 pigs per pen. Dietary treatments were as follows: CON, corn-soybean meal basal diet; FER05, basal diet + 5 g/tonne FER; FER10, basal diet + 10 g/tonne FER; FER15, basal diet + 15 g/tonne FER. Pigs were fed with phase 1 (1–14 d) and phase 2 (15–42 d) diets in the form of mash. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) was linearly increased (P = 0.027) by FER15 supplementation compared with CON diet during d 15–28. Piglets fed FER10 diet had increased average daily gain (ADG) and growth efficiency (G:F) compared with the CON diet during d 29–42 (P = 0.019 and 0.010, respectively) and overall (P = 0.012 and 0.002, respectively). Moreover, G:F was linearly increased by FER supplementation during d 1–42 (P   0.10). In conclusion, results showed that FER improved serum Fe, TIBC, fettitin and Hb and that these changes were associated with improved growth performance in weanling piglets.