三丁酸甘油酯——营养调控新技术

畜禽养殖有正资产和负资产之分。动物活着就是正资产，有盈利的机会；动物死了就是负资产，直接亏损。例如每死1头猪，亏掉的成本差不多三千元左右，而成功养活1头猪至上市才赚 800-1000 元，相当于每死1头猪，就要连带导致2-3头猪赚钱才能平亏损，所以提高存活率与健仔数成为养殖户迫切需求。Livestock farming has positive assets and negative ones at the same time. When animals survive, it is positive assets, and there are opportunities for profits; when animals die, it is negative ones - a direct loss. For example, 3,000 RMB will be cost for each pig’s death, while 800-1000 RMB will be earned only for raising one pig into market successfully, that is to say, it costs profits of 2-3 survived pigs to even the loss of a dead one. It becomes farmers’ urgent demand to improve piglet’s survival rate and the number of healthy ones.

仔猪从发病到死亡是由各种综合因素导致，换个角度，以结果为导向，从发病到死亡的过程中一定是多器官或关键器官衰竭，根本原因是血氧供给不足，导致驱动生命的能量物质 ATP 产量不足。因此，提高血氧饱和度，促进氧气的有效供给和利用是保命的核心。比如人生病或各种原因威胁到生命时，急救措施的第一件事就是用体外生命支持系统，也就是戴氧气罩，提高血氧饱和度。

The exacerbating process of piglet’s death from onset, is caused by comprehensive factors, if we see this process from a result-oriented perspective, we’ll realize it involves a multi-organ or a critical organ failure. An insufficient supply of blood oxygen, which leads to an insufficient ATP production, the energy substance that drives life, is the root of the failure. Therefore, improving blood oxygen saturation, effective supply and utilization of oxygen are the core of life preservation. For instance, when a person is sick or facing a life threatening, first step of emergency treatment is to use external life support system, which requires wearing an oxygen mask, to increase blood oxygen saturation.

丁酸根作为信号分子，能够启动 γ-血红蛋白的合成。上世纪 70 年代，妊娠期糖尿病孕妇的胎儿，出生 18 周以内还有 γ-血红蛋白，这本来是会沉默掉的基因，通过丁酸根激活后，该基因能广泛地在人、家禽、猪、羊和牛、非人类的灵长类动物中表达。美国和德国的科学家们历时数十年，筛选了 50 多种能产生丁酸根的前体物，在 2000 年时才确定三丁酸甘油酯的效果最佳，也最安全。Butyrate, as a signal molecule, can initiate the synthesis of γ-hemoglobin. In the 1970s, the fetuses of the pregnant women who carried gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)still had the γ-hemoglobin with her, a gene is supposed to be silenced within 18 weeks after birth. This gene was expressed widely in human, poultry, pig, sheep, cattle and non-human primate after being activated by butyrate . Scientists from America and Germany had been screening more than 50 precursors of butyrate for decades, not until the year 2000 did they determine, that Tributyrin behaved the best and the safest.

三丁酸甘油酯中丁酸根能促进 γ-血红蛋白表达，提高血液中红细胞数量，提升动物主动携带氧气的能力。动物死亡不是缺能量而是缺氧，以人为例，缺氧活不过 3min，氧气是在线粒体氧化营养物质，释放出驱动生命的 ATP，下游养殖户直观的感受就是猪皮红毛亮。皮红毛亮的猪一定是健康的，血气足则精神旺，精神旺则形体健。The butyrate in Tributyrin promotes the expression of γ-hemoglobin, increases the number of red blood cells, and improves animals’ abilities of carrying oxygen actively. The death of an animal isn’t caused by lacking of energy, but oxygen. Let’s take human being for instance, a person will not survive after a 3-minute hypoxia, because oxygen is the mitochondria oxidation of nutrients, that releases ATP to drive life. So the intuitive feeling of downstream farmers’ in this regard is, that healthy pigs are definitely with red skins and bright fur. 

目前外三元母猪的仔猪普遍存活率不高，弱仔猪多，究其根本多是胎盘供血不足，胎盘供血足了，营养就跟的上去，健仔数就会高。At present, the survival rate of a sow’s piglets is still generally low, and the piglets are with a high portion of weak ones at the same time. A lack of blood supply from placenta is the explanation of this phenomenon. If the blood supply from placenta is sufficient, the nutrition will be at a great level, and the number of healthy piglets will look better.

实例 Example

2015 年安佑集团和南京农业大学在安佑集团安徽芜湖的猪场做的试验——采用三丁酸甘油酯超早期营养干预，将弱仔变成健仔、强仔。

试验采用超早期断奶（7 日龄断奶），试验期各处理组用相同的代乳料作为基础日粮。根据仔猪的体重分为3个组，1组为体重正常的猪（1.54Kg），2组为体重轻的，也就是子宫内生长受限制的弱仔猪（0.95Kg），3组为弱仔猪+代乳料里额外添加三丁酸甘油酯。

Super early weaning (7 days old weaning) was adopted, and the same milk substitute was used as a basic diet in all treatment groups. The piglets were divided into 3 groups in terms of different weights: the 1^st group was of normal weight (1.54kg), the 2^nd one was of light weight (0.95kg) with a growth restriction in utero (0.95kg), and the 3^rd one was of weak ones with additional Tributyrin added in the milk substitute.

试验从 7 日龄开始至 21 日龄结束，弱仔猪在使用三丁酸甘油酯营养干预后，短短两周内体重就达到了正常水平，最关键是内脏器官、消化道免疫器官指数甚至优于对照组。实现了仔猪从弱仔猪向强仔猪和健仔猪的华丽转变，大大提高了仔猪的存活率和生长效率。

The experiment started at the 7th day and ended at the 21st day after the piglets’ births. The weight of the weak ones reached the normal level in just two weeks, after the Tributyrin nutritional intervention was implemented. And what’s more important was that the indexes of internal and digestive tract immune organs, were even better than the control group’s. This experiment is a signal of the significant transformation of the weak piglets turning into strong and healthy ones, and it improved the survival rate and growth efficiency。

参考文献：

DONG L, ZHONG X, HE J T, et a1. Supplementation of tributyrin improves the growth and intestinal digestive and barrier functions in intrauterine growth—restricted piglets[J]. Clinical Nutrition, 2015. DOI:10.1016／j. clnu. 2015.03.002.