Efficacy of Thiopeptin as a Growth Promotant for Growing Barrows and Gilts — a Cooperative Study

Abstract

A cooperative study involving 280 crossbred pigs was conducted at three experiment stations (Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky) to evaluate the efficacy of the antibiotic, thiopeptin, as a growth promotant for growing pigs. At each station, two replications of barrows and two replications of gilts (four or five/pen), initially averaging 9.3 kg, were fed a fortified corn-soybean meal basal diet with 0, 5.5, 11, 22 or 44 ppm thiopeptin. The pigs averaged 41.4 kg at the end of the 56- to 57-d experimental period. Daily gain increased quandratically (505, 550, 565, 585, 590 g/d; P less than .001) and feed required per unit of gain decreased quadratically (2.32, 2.26, 2.29, 2.22, 2.22; P less than .15) with increasing levels of thiopeptin. Breakpoint analysis indicated that rate and efficiency of growth were maximized at the 14- and 22-ppm levels of thiopeptin, respectively. Averaged across all levels of thiopeptin, gain was increased by 13.4% and feed/gain by 3.2% in pigs fed the antibiotic. Responses to dietary treatment were similar at each station, with no evidence of a treatment X station interaction for gain (P = .35) or feed/gain (P = .80). Barrows and gilts performed similarly (558 vs 560 g/d, 2.26 vs 2.26 feed/gain) and there was no evidence of a sex X treatment interaction. From the results of this experiment, we conclude that thiopeptin is an effective growth promoting agent for growing swine.

Benefits and risks of antimicrobial use in food-producing animals

“…(4) Administration of antibiotics (bacitracin zinc, colistin sulfate, flavomycin, and florfenicol) in fish diet significantly improved the feed conversion and promoted their growth (He et al, 2011; Zhou et al, 2011). (5) Antimicrobial (tiamulin, nosiheptide, salinomycin, and tylosin) supplementation could also improve the carcass quality by decreasing the fat thickness and increasing the lean meat of food-producing animals (Cromwell et al, 1984a, b; Cromwell and Stahly, 1985; Lindemann et al, 1985; Van Lunen, 2003). …”

Review on Rational Use of Antmicrobials in Veterinary Practice

“…Feeding antimicrobials to animals increase their weight gain. Antibiotics like tylosin supplementation can also improve the carcass quality by decreasing the fat thickness and increasing the lean meat of food animals [35].…”