Table 4.
Clinical-chemical characteristics of weaned piglets fed a control diet without ergot (Control) or diets adjusted to a total ergot alkaloid content of 16.8 mg/kg (Ergot 5-high; Ergot 15-high) (week 4 of experiment, n = 8).
| Diet | Sex | Protein (g/L) | Albumin (g/L) | Total bilirubin (μmol/L) | Glucose (mmol/L) | ASAT (U/L) | ALAT (U/L) | GLDH (U/L) | GGT (U/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Male | 47.5 | 27.0 ab | 4.6 c | 3.0 ab | 24.0 | 21.5 | 2.3 | 17.2 |
| Control | Female | 48.2 | 25.2 ab | 3.7 b | 3.1 abc | 27.3 | 20.9 | 2.5 | 19.3 |
| Ergot 5-high | Male | 48.0 | 27.8 b | 1.3a | 4.2 d | 23.1 | 24.6 | 1.6 | 21.3 |
| Ergot 5-high | Female | 47.0 | 23.5 a | 1.3 a | 3.7 cd | 25.2 | 25.8 | 1.9 | 17.9 |
| Ergot 15-high | Male | 46.2 | 25.3 ab | 2.5 ab | 2.8 a | 24.9 | 24.9 | 2.0 | 17.6 |
| Ergot 15-high | Female | 45.7 | 27.6 b | 2.0 a | 3.6 bcd | 17.9 | 23.4 | 1.5 | 19.3 |
| ANOVA (p-values) | |||||||||
| Diet | 0.475 | 0.828 | 0.001 | 0.002 | 0.362 | 0.106 | 0.276 | 0.777 | |
| Sex | 0.848 | 0.226 | 0.650 | 0.539 | 0.824 | 0.834 | 0.893 | 0.935 | |
| Diet × sex | 0.877 | 0.031 | 0.834 | 0.034 | 0.176 | 0.737 | 0.620 | 0.298 | |
| PSEM | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 1.8 | |
Abbreviations: GGT = Gamma-glutamyl transferase; ASAT = aspartat-aminotransferase; ALAT = alanine-aminotransferase; GLDH = glutamat-dehydrogenase; PSEM = pooled standard error of means; MC = 13C-methacetin; KICA = 13C-ketoisocaproate; ab Values with no common superscripts are significantly different within columns (p < 0.05).