The effects of herbal formula PROVE 1, antibiotic and protein levels on growth performance of growing pigs

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of additives (herbal formula PROVE 1 and antibiotic) and protein levels (20, 18 and 16%) on growth performance of growing pigs. A 2x3 factorial incompletely randomized design was used in this study. Thirty six barrows with average weight of 23 kg were separated into six groups (six replications for each treatment) and allotted for six dietary treatments comprisingdiets 1, 2 and 3 using antibiotic 0.20% + 20%, 18% and 16% crude protein, respectively and diets 4, 5 and 6 using PROVE 1 0.25% + 20%, 18% and 16% crude protein, respectively. The animals were raised inindividual pens and fed ad libitum from 23-60 kg. The results showed no significant differences (P>0.05) in growth performance of pigs fed diets with antibiotic or PROVE 1 supplementation. However, pigs fed ondiet with 20 % crude protein had significantly different (P 0.05) interaction between additives and protein levels on pigs fed different diets. However, pigs fed on diet 1 and diet 4 tended to show total feed intake, dialy feed intake and feed conversion ratioslightly higher than pigs fed diets 2, 3, 5 and 6 and had a lower feed cost per weight gain than other diets.

Keywords

• antibiotic
• herbal formula PROVE 1
• protein levels
• pigs