THE EFFECT OF TRIIODOTHYRONINE-PREDNISOLONE TREATMENT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIGESTIVE ENZYMES IN THE SUCKLING PIG

Thirty suckling pigs of 4 litters were divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental piglets were treated perorally from 14-20 days of age with increasing doses of triiodothyronine, which were combined with prednisolone for the last 3 days. On the day following the conclusion of the treatment (at 3 wk of age), the piglets were killed by bleeding for the determination of the digestive enzymes. The experimental piglets showed a significant increase of intestinal trypsin (P < 0.01) and pancreatic amylase (P < 0.05) activities over the control; a significant decrease of gastric chymosin activity (P < 0.05) was caused by the great inter-group differences within 1 litter. Ten of the 11 parameters tested indicated precocious maturation of the digestive enzymes of the experimental piglets; however, most of these differences were not significant. Further studies are required for the possible utilization of this finding in the early weaning practice.