Recently, the research results that palygorskite could be a substitute for antibiotics in controlling piglets diarrhea, conducted by Professor Zhang Junmin’s team, has aroused international attention. The paper has been identified as a Key Scientific Article by the “Advances in Engineering” on June 27, 2014. According to the “Article Usage Dashboard” provided by Elsevier, the article has been downloaded 282 times since its publishment in “Applied Clay Science” on 2013 (volume 86, issue 11).

Palygorskite, which is a magnesium aluminum silicate clay mineral with a chain-layered crystal structure, is abundant in China. The adsorption capacity of palygorskite enables it to absorb pathogenic bacteria and toxin in piglets diet, improve the intestinal integrity and prevent piglets from diarrhea. Thus, it can serve as a substitute for antibiotics, so as to reduce the usage of antibiotics in pig production. By adding high purity palygorskite in diet, the team investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of palygorskite on piglets diarrhea and intestinal integrity. The results showed that feed/gain, diarrhea rate, endotoxin concentrations and diamine oxidase activity of serum in palygorskite groups were lower than that in control group. Also, the intestinal villi area was increased and the defense function of jejunum was enhanced, due to palygorskite supplementation.

The results of this study indicate that the replacement of antibiotics with palygorskite in diet could control piglets diarrhea, decrease the usage of antibiotics in pig production and provide solutions for livestock products safety.