Work

Comparative Evaluation of Physicochemical Stability and In Vitro Intestinal Dialysability of Conventional Solid and Liquid Nanoscale Vitamin Premixes in Swine Feed

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Fat-soluble vitamins (FSVs) are essential micronutrients in swine nutrition, but their stability can be affected by formulation characteristics, storage conditions, thermal processing, and gastrointestinal environments. This study aimed to compare the physicochemical stability and in vitro intestinal dialysability of vitamins A, D, and E between two non-identical commercial formulations: conventional solid vitamin premixes (SVPs) and liquid nanoscale vitamin premixes (LNVPs) under simulated storage, thermal treatment, gastrointestinal digestion, dialysis, and fecal fermentation conditions. Microscopy revealed irregular solid particles in SVPs and spherical nanoscale structures observed in LNVPs under transmission electron microscopy conditions, with the latter showing improved visual dispersion stability. Vitamin retention decreased progressively during storage, and LNVPs maintained significantly higher relative retention of FSVs than SVPs (p < 0.01). After 40 days of storage at 40 °C, LNVPs retained more than 65% of vitamins D and E, whereas SVPs retained less than 50%. Under high-temperature stress simulating feed pelleting, LNVPs also showed higher retention of vitamins D and E than SVPs. In the simulated porcine gastrointestinal digestion model, LNVPs showed lower early apparent disappearance and higher dialysable fractions during the intestinal phase for all three FSVs (p < 0.01). A subsequent fecal fermentation assay further revealed formulation-dependent differences in vitamin behavior under simulated colonic conditions. Collectively, LNVPs showed higher relative vitamin retention and greater in vitro dialysability than SVPs under the tested conditions, supporting the potential of LNVPs for improving vitamin preservation in swine feed applications.

Source: Veterinary Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/vetsci13101043