2) stem waste, Standard error of the mean On d 37, pigs fed the 5% FVS diet showed increased concentrations of acetate (stem waste inclusion on serum profile of pigs in different growing-finishing phases (Exp. treatments, which included a N-free diet and an experimental diet containing 40.0% FVS. In Exp. 3, ninety growing pigs (IBW: 63.98??6.89?kg) were allotted to 1 1 of 3 treatment diets for 63 d, including a basal diet and 2 experimental diets with 2.5% and 5% FVS, respectively. Results The digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) of FVS were 4.58 and 4.06?MJ/kg on dry matter basis, respectively, and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of indispensable TPN171 AAs ranged from 17.50% to 59.47%. Pigs fed diets with 2.5% FVS showed no difference on average daily gain (ADG) and gain to feed ratio (G/F). Although dietary 5% FVS inclusion impaired apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of organic matter and gross energy, it elevated the SCFA concentration (muscle of pigs fed FVS revealed higher n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration and optimized fatty acid composition. Dietary 2.5% FVS inclusion also improved the intestinal development and TPN171 health by increasing the villius height to crypt depth ratio (V/C) in jejunum (stem waste, Growing-finishing pigs, Growth performance, Meat quality Background (FV) is a kind of edible mushroom that is popular especially in Asia. In 2015, the total output of FV in China exceeded 758.3 thousand tons [1]. The by-product of FV stem waste (FVS), has also been produced in large amounts, and the common direct disposal of FVS turned out to be a great threat to our environment and also a huge waste of resources. According to the previous investagation, the average processing cost (mainly due to the electricity consumption) of the FVS powder in China was 43 dollars per ton, while the cost of the raw materials (crude FVS) is almost negligible at present [2]. Thus, the moderate inclusion of FVS in animal diets could greatly reduce the feed cost. In recent years, some studies have explored the utilization of FVS in broiler chicken diets. For example, Wang et al. [3] and Mahfuz et al. [4] reported that dietary FVS inclusion improved the growth performance of broilers, and also increased the interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-4 (IL-4) and S-immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) concentrations in serum, the CD22 short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration in gut, and the villus height to crypt depth ratio (V/C) in the intestine of broilers. However, there is no study focusing on the utilization of FVS as a feed ingredient in diets of growing-finishing pigs. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME) values, and the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AAs) of FVS fed to growing pigs, to determine the effects of dietary FVS inclusion at different inclusion levels (2.5% or 5%) on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, biochemical profiles in serum TPN171 and fecal short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentration in growing-finishing pigs, and to determine the effects of dietary FVS inclusion on carcass characteristics, meat quality, intestinal morphological structure and microflora in finishing pigs. Materials and methods All experiments were carried out in accordance with the Chinese Guidelines for Animal Welfare and Experimental Protocol, and received prior approval by the Animal Care and Use Committee of China Agricultural University (ID: SKLABB-2010-003). The animal trials of Exp. 1 and 3 were carried out in the FengNing Swine Research Unit of China Agricultural University (Academician Workstation in Chengdejiuyun Agricultural & Livestock Co. Ltd). The animal trial of Exp. 2 was conducted in the Metabolism Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture Feed Industry Centre in China Agricultural University (Beijing, China). The crude FVS was provided by Biotechnology Company (Changchun, China), and was processed in Jilin Green Biological Technology Company (Siping, China). Specifically, FVS was dried using a triple-pass rotary drum dryer machine (65?C) and then ground in a hammer mill using a 2-mm screen. The TPN171 same batch of FVS was used for all experiments. The chemical compositions of FVS was shown in Table?1. Table 1 Analyzed nutrient content of stem waste (%, as-fed basis)a stem waste Exp. 1: DE and ME contents of FVS Twelve crossbred barrows (Duroc Landrace Yorkshire) with initial body weight (IBW) of 37.48??4.31?kg were assigned to 2 treatment diets in a completely randomized design with 6 replicated pigs per treatment. The treatment diets included a basal diet formulated to contain 97.4% corn and 2.6% of vitamins and minerals, and an experimental diet formulated by replacing 25% of corn in the basal diet by FVS (Table?2). Table 2 Ingredients and analyzed AA compositions of the experimental TPN171 diets used in.

2) stem waste, Standard error of the mean On d 37, pigs fed the 5% FVS diet showed increased concentrations of acetate (stem waste inclusion on serum profile of pigs in different growing-finishing phases (Exp