Effects of dietary oregano essential oil and vitamin E supplementation on meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology in pigs following transport stress

: This study investigates the effects of dietary oregano essential oil (OEO) and vitamin E (Vit E) supplementation on meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology in pigs following transport stress. A total of 288 finishing pigs were randomly assigned to three groups: a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented either with 200 mg/kg Vit E or 25 mg/kg OEO. After a 28-day feeding trial, total of 132 finishing pigs according diet and transport stress were assigned to one of four treatment groups: 1) control treatment without transport stress (Control group), 2) control treatment with 5-hr transport stress (Negative group), 3) Vit E treatment with 5-hr transport stress and 4) OEO treatment with 5-hr transport stress. Transport stress pigs had lower muscle 45 min pH (pHi) and higher drip loss than control pigs. Dietary OEO and Vit E supplementation significantly increased 45min pH under transport stress, and the OEO groups produced lower 24-hr drip loss values (P<0.05) than that of pigs from the negative group. The OEO-supplemented pigs showed decreased serum levels of creatine kinase (CK) and cortisol (P<0.05), and decreased Hsp 27 (heat shock protein 27) and Hsp 70 (heat shock protein 70) mRNA expression in the muscle (P<0.05). Additionally, histological analysis revealed intestinal epithelial damage in transport stress pigs that was reversed by dietary supplementation with OEO. In conclusion, supplementation with dietary OEO may be superior to supplementation with dietary Vit E in alleviating the meat quality, stress response and intestinal morphology of pigs after challenge due to transportation stress.