Effect of Supplementation of Xylanase and Live Yeast on Long-Term Growth Performance of Pigs

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of xylanase (Econase XT; XY) and live yeast (Vistacell; LY)) supplementation, alone or in combination, on performance during the nursery and growing-finishing stages in pigs. A total of 128 weanling pigs (21 ± 2 d, BW: 6.24 ± 0.20 kg) were assigned to 4 treatments in a randomized complete block design (8 replicate pens, 4 pigs per pen) from weaning to market. The 4 treatments were as follows for two feeding periods; wean to 21 d and 21 to 154 d: T1) control-control, T2) XY; XY, T3) XY+LY; XY; T4) XY+LY; XY+LY. XY Pigs were fed a 6-phase feed program from weaning with a complex diet being fed from wean to 3 weeks after which pigs were fed a corn, soy, corn distillers based diet formulated to meet the pigs requirements (NRC, 2012). Econase XT (XY) was added at 16,000 BXU/kg and LY was added at 1 g/kg from W-21 d after which if included in the diet it was reduced to 0.5g/kg from 21 to 156 d. Body weight and feed intake were recorded at the end of each nursery phase and then every two weeks. At d 21 there was no difference in body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed efficiency (G:F). During the grower phase (d 42 to 98) pigs fed T3 and T4 had higher (P < 0.05) ADG by 6.7% and 6.1%, respectively, compared with the control, with T2 being intermediate. In the finisher period (d98 to 156), pigs fed with T4 had higher ADG than T1. At the end of the trial, pigs fed T3 were heavier than T1 (114.1 v 108.1 kg; P < 0.05) with T2 (111 kg) and T4 (111.9 kg) intermediate and no difference (P > 0.05) from T1 (108.1 kg). There was a numerical increase in G:F with all XY supplemented diets (T1; 0.368, T2; 0.379, T3; 0.376 T4; 0.381; P > 0.05). In summary, early supplementation of a combination of XY and LY had a positive effect on future growth performance of weanling pigs.