The impact of the addition of humic substances on growth efficiency, excretion parameters and fecal microbiota in piglets

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of dietary humic substances on growth efficiency, faeces indicators, and the bacteriological composition of faeces in piglets. Twenty-four crossbred young pigs (Slovakian White x Landrace) in total were allotted into two groups: the experimental and the control groups. They were fed a diet with humic substances supplemented at 0.5% in the experimental group. In this study, there were no significant differences in the monitored production indicators of piglets. The addition of humic substances increased the dry matter of faeces in the experimental group (P < 0.001). Other indicators in the faeces samples were not significantly affected by dietary treatment. We observed a significant decrease in the counts of coliform bacteria in the faeces (P < 0.05) of the experimental group. The results also showed a tendency to increase the counts of the lactic acid bacteria and a decrease in the counts of the Enterobacteriaceae in the piglets’ experimental group compared to the control group. A decrease in coliform bacteria counts in the faeces of experimental animals showed a positive effect on the microbiota in the intestine. It was concluded that the addition of humic substances to the diet of piglets could have a positive impact on gut flora without having a negative effect on production performance or other fecal characteristics.

Keywords

• humic substances
• faeces
• microbiota
• productive performance
• piglets