Ninety six crossbred pigs (Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc) were used to determine the effects of essential oils (Fresta F Conc ® ) supplementation on growth performance, immune response and fecal noxious gas of weaned pigs. Treatments were 1) NC (negative control; basal diet without antibiotics), 2) PC [positive control; basal diet+CSP (CTC+Sulfathiazole+Penicillin) 0.1%], 3) NCF (basal diet+Fresta F Conc ® 0.03%) and 4) PCF [basal diet+CSP (CTC+Sulfathiazole+Penicillin) 0.1%+Fresta F Conc ® 0.02%]. From d 0 to 14, ADFI was increased in pigs fed PCF diet (p<0.05). From d 14 to 28, pigs fed PCF diet had greater ADG and ADFI than pigs fed NC diet (p<0.05). From d 28 to 49, ADG and ADFI in pigs fed PCF diet were higher than in pigs fed NC diet (p<0.05). Through the entire experimental period, ADG and ADFI in pigs fed PCF diet were the highest compared to pigs fed NC and PC diets (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in fecal consistency score among the treatments (p>0.05). No statistical differences (p>0.05) were found in red blood cells (RBC) counts, white blood cells (WBC) counts, lymphocyte counts, total protein and albumin. Serum IgG concentration of PCF treatment was greater than that of other treatments (p<0.05). From d 0 to 14, there was no significant difference in digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen among the treatments (p>0.05). From d 14 to 28, digestibility of dry matter in pigs fed PC, NCF and PCF diets was higher than that of pigs fed NC diet (p<0.05) and treatments with added essential oils were higher than other diets on digestibility of nitrogen (p<0.05). Also, from d 28 to 49, digestibility of nitrogen in pigs fed PCF diet was the highest among others (p<0.05). On d 14 and 28, no statistical differences (p>0.05) were found in volatile fatty acid (VFA), ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) and hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) concentrations among treatments. On d 49, there was no significant difference in VFA concentration among the treatments (p>0.05). NH 3 -N concentration in pigs fed PCF diet was lower than in pigs fed other diets (p<0.05). H 2 S concentration in pigs fed diets with added essential oils was lower than others. In conclusion, the results suggest that the dietary addition of essential oils and antibiotics into diets for weanling pigs improved growth performance, IgG concentration and nitrogen digestibility and decreased noxious gas concentration. Essential oils can be used to partly replace antibiotics in diets for weaned pigs without negative affects on growth performance.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation with bacillus-based probiotic (Bacillus subtilis, 1.0×10 7 CFU/g; Bacillus coagulans, 2.0×10 6 CFU/g and Lactobacillus acidophilus, 5.0×10 6 CFU/g) on finishing pigs growth performance, nutrients digestibility, blood characteristics and fecal noxious gas content and to determine the optimal addition level of this probiotic preparation. A total of forty eight pigs with an initial body weight (BW) of 90.60±2.94 kg were allotted to three dietary treatments (four pigs per pen with four pens per treatment) according to a randomized complete block design. Dietary treatment included: 1) CON (basal diet); 2) BP1 (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.1%) and 3) BP2 (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.2%). The experiment lasted 6 weeks. Through the entire experimental period, ADG was improved by 11% (p<0.05) in pigs fed diets supplemented with 0.2% bacillus-based probiotic compared to pigs fed the basal diet. ADFI and gain/feed were not affected by the treatments (p>0.05). Supplementation of bacillus-based probiotic did not affect either DM and N digestibilities or blood characteristics (p>0.05) of pigs. Fecal ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N) measured at the end of experiment was reduced (p<0.05) when pigs were fed the diet with 0.2% bacillus-based probiotic. Fecal butyric acid concentration also decreased significantly (p<0.05) whereas acetic acid and propionic acid concentrations were not affected (p>0.05) when pigs were fed diets with added bacillus-based probiotic. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of bacillus-based probiotic can increase growth performance and decrease fecal noxious gas content concentration.

The objective of this study was to determine whether feeding an antibiotic-free creep feed supplemented with either oligofructose, probiotics or synbiotics to suckling piglets influences growth performance, the gut microflora, gut morphology and hematological traits at weaning. Twenty sows with 10 piglets each were randomly assigned to one of four treatments. The treatments consisted of a control (antibiotic-free) diet, 0.2% oligofructose (OF), 0.3% probiotics or 0.5% synbiotics (mixture of 0.2% OF+0.3% probiotics). Piglets were offered the diet ad libitum from 7 d after birth until one day after weaning (21 d of age). At the day after weaning, blood samples were collected from the jugular vein to determine the immune response. Digesta samples of the ileum and colon were collected to determine the microbial composition. Tissue segments from the duodenum and ileum were collected for morphometric measurements of the small intestine. The average daily weight gain was significantly higher for piglets fed the OF or synbiotics diet compared with the pigs fed the control diet. The hematological traits (the concentration of lymphocytes and neutrophils in whole blood) were not affected by the diet. Piglets fed the OF, probiotics or synbiotics diet had a significantly decreased number of total coliform bacteria in the colon. Feeding OF, probiotics or synbiotics significantly increased the population of bifidobacteria in the ileum compared to the control. In the colon, the probiotics and synbiotics diet significantly increased the number of bifidobacteria compared with the control diet. The results of this experiment showed that supplementation of oligofructose or synbiotics to an antibiotic-free creep feed during the preweaning period affected gut microbial population and performance of piglets.

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of dietary complex probiotic (Lactobacillus acidophilus, 1.0×10 7 CFU/g; Saccharomyces cerevisae, 4.3×10 6 CFU/g; Bacillus subtilis 2.0×10 6 CFU/g) on growth performance, nutrients digestibility, blood characteristics and fecal noxious gas content in growing pigs. Ninety [(Duroc×Yorkshire)×Landrace] pigs with the average initial BW of 39.75±1.97 kg were allocated into three treatments by a randomized complete block design. There were five pens per treatment with six pigs per pen. Dietary treatments include: 1) CON (basal diet); 2) CP1 (basal diet+complex probiotic 0.1%) and 3) CP2 (basal diet+ complex probiotic 0.2%). During the entire experimental period of 6 weeks, results showed that addition of complex probiotic at the level of 0.2% to diet increased ADG significantly (p<0.05). Also, digestibilities of DM and N tended to increase, however, no significant differences were observed (p>0.05). Blood characteristics (IgG, Albumin, total protein, RBC, WBC and lymphocyte) of pigs were not affected (p>0.05) by complex probiotic supplementation. Fecal NH 3 -N was decreased (11.8%) significantly by the addition of complex probiotic (p<0.05), but no effects were observed on fecal acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid concentrations (p>0.05). In conclusion, results in this experiment indicated that dietary complex probiotic supplementation had a positive effect on growing pigs performance and could decrease fecal NH 3 -N concentration.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Biotite V supplementation on growth performance, nutrients digestibility and blood constituents and to evaluate whether Biotite V could replace an antibiotics in growing pigs diet. One hundred twenty pigs with initial body weight of 18.35±0.15 kg were used in a 28 days growth trial. Pigs were allotted to four treatments by sex and body weight in a randomized complete block design. There were six replicate pens per treatment and five pigs per pen. Four dietary treatments were: 1) NC (basal diet without antibiotics), 2) PC (basal diet+0.1% CTC), 3) NCBV (NC diet+0.5% 200 mesh Biotite V) and 4) PCBV (PC diet+0.5% 200 mesh Biotite V). Through the entire experimental period, ADG tented to increase in NCBV and PCBV treatments compared to NC and PC treatments respectively, but no significant differences were observed (p>0.05). ADFI was slightly lower in NCBV and PCBV treatments than that in NC and PC treatments without significant differences (p>0.05). Gain/feed in PC and PCBV treatments was improved significantly compared to NC treatment (p<0.05). N and Ca digestibilities were higher in PCBV treatments than those in PC treatment (p<0.05). DM and P digestibilities were not affected by the addition of Biotite V (p>0.05). RBC, HCT, Hb, lymphocyte and monocyte were increased numerically in NCBV and PCBV treatments compared to NC and PC treatments (p>0.05). WBC was lower in treatment groups than that in NC treatment, but no significant differences were observed (p>0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of Biotite V can better the gain/feed and some of the nutrients digestibilities in growing pigs. It has a possibility to replace antibiotics in swine diet.