Evaluation of and on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Blood Characteristics, and Fecal Microbial Shedding in Diet for Weaning Pigs

Abstract

A total of 144 pigs ((Landrace×Yorkshire)×Duroc] with an average initial BW of 8.45±0.57 kg were used in a 5-wk growth trial. Pigs were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 9 replications per pen in a randomized complex block design. Dietary treatments included: i) CON (basal diet), ii) ANT (CON+tylosin 1 g/kg), iii) H1 (CON+H. cordata 1 g/kg) and iv) T1 (CON+T. officinale 1 g/kg). In this study, pigs fed the ANT and T1 treatment had a higher (p0.05) was observed on the growth performance and apparent total tract digestibility with H1 supplementation compared with the CON treatment. The inclusion of ANT treatment led to a higher (p0.05) the blood characteristics (white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), IgG, lymphocyte). No difference was observed on (p0.05). In conclusion, the inclusion of T. officinale (1 g/kg) increased growth performance, feed efficiency, energy digestibility similarly to the antibiotic treatment. Dietary supplementation of T. officinale and H. cordata (1 g/kg) reduced the fecal E. coli concentration in weaning pigs.

Keywords

• Growth
• Digestibility
• Fecal Microbes
• Weaning Pigs