The influence of duration of feeding dietary vitamin D enriched mushroom powder to finisher pigs on growth performance and meat quality parameters

Novel feed additives that replace the use of synthetic additives while enhancing pig performance and pork quality are continuously being explored. A complete randomised block design experiment was conducted to examine the effects of the duration of feeding of vitamin D2 enriched mushrooms to finisher pigs and its effect on pig performance and pork quality. Sixty pigs were assigned to one of three dietary treatments for a 69-day feeding period. The dietary treatments were as follows: (T1) basal diet; (T2) basal diet + 1 g/kg of feed vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 48 days prior to slaughter (MPVD-48); and (T3) basal diet + 1 g/kg of feed vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 26 days prior to slaughter (MPVD-26). The mushroom vitamin D content was naturally enriched using synthetic ultraviolet B exposure to obtain a vitamin D2 level of 50 µg/kg of feed. Dietary supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder, irrespective of feeding duration, caused a reduction (P < 0.05) in feed intake, whilst improving (P < 0.05) gain-to-feed ratio. Supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder for 26 days prior to slaughter caused pork lightness (L*) values to remain stable over the 21-day storage time-period compared with all other dietary groups. Supplementation for 26 days also caused a reduction in lipid peroxidation on day 4 of storage compared with supplementation for 48 days. Irrespective of feeding duration, vitamin D2 enriched mushroom powder supplementation improved FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) values of pork compared with the basal. In conclusion, vitamin D2 enriched mushroom supplementation, irrespective of feeding duration, caused a reduction in feed intake but improved feed efficiency. The supplementation of vitamin D2 enriched mushrooms for the shorter duration of 26 days prior to slaughter improved pork quality in relation to colour and antioxidant status.