Flavours in the diets for piglets from 6 to 18 kg body weight. [Portuguese]

A total of 192 weaning crossbred Landrace x Large White piglets (6.9 kg body weight, 23-days-old) were used to determine the effect of addition of flavour enhancers in simple or complex diets on the performance, blood parameters and the organ weights. A randomized block design in a 2x3 factorial scheme with 2 diets (simple or complex) and addition or not of two flavours (F1 and F2) was used. It was shown that flavour addition did not affect liveweight gain, feed intake and feed conversion. The complex diet showed better feed conversion than the simple diet. The blood glucose concentration was higher in the postprandial period. The simple diet had a higher effect on blood glucose levels. However, blood glucose concentration was not influenced by flavour addition. Insulin levels were higher in the postprandial period, although it was also not influenced by both diets and by the tested flavours. Liver, pancreas and kidney weights were not affected by the addition of flavours, while feeding the control diet resulted in higher organ weights compared to the complex diet. In conclusion, flavour addition has no effects on piglet performance, blood parameters and organ weights.