Effect of Bile Supplementation on Fat Digestion in Early Weaned Pig Diets

Purdue University 2000 Swine Day Research Report. There is growing interest in segregated early weaning programs for swine starting as early as 14 days of age. However, one of the limiting factors is the limited abilities of young pigs to digest dietary fat and the subsequent consequences on their performance. In an early study designed primarily to measure the effects of bile on vitamin E absorption, Reinhart et al. (1988) observed that performance of pigs weaned at 21 days increased linearly with increased levels of bile salt in the diet. Bile is harvested from some hog processing plants, but marketed primarily as an export product. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of bile (desiccated hog bile) supplementation on fat digestibility in weaned pigs as measured in digestion trials.