Effects of Dietary Supplementation with a Mixed Powder of Medicinal Plants on the Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Chemical Composition, and Meat Quality of Pigs

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a medicinal plant mixture (MP) (60% Bindens pilosa L., 15% Urena lobata L., 15% Pseuderanthemum palatiferum, 5% Ramulus Cinnamomi, and 5% Illicium verum Hook. f.) as a feed additive to promote the growth performance and meat quality of grower-finisher pigs. Forty-eight crossbred pigs (Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire)), with initial live body weights of 30.3 ± 1.42kg, were randomly allocated to four dietary groups, with three replicates of each group and four animals per replicate. The experimental pigs were fed a basal diet supplemented with MP powder at 0, 20, 40, or 60 g kg-1 of feed (T0, T20, T40, and T60) for 15 weeks. The growth performance, carcass quality parameters, chemical composition, fatty acids, and cholesterol contents of the pig meat were measured. There were no statistical differences (P> 0.05) in the final live body weight, overall average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio among the control and MP treatments. MP supplementation significantly increased the protein content (P = 0.02) and decreased the cholesterol content (P = 0.04) of raw longissimus dorsi muscle. The obtained results indicate that the dietary MP supplementation tested could have the potential to improve meat quality and decrease the cholesterol content in pork with no adverse effects on the growth performance.