Effects of Probiotics Supplementation on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Blood Profiles, Fecal Noxious Gas Emission in Growing Pigs

Abstract Text: Application of probiotics, which are live nonpathogenic organisms, has been shown to improve performance and diet digestibility, as well as intestinal micro ecosystem in weanling pigs, but the effects of probiotics differ in different genera, species, and are strain specific. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of probiotics on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and fecal noxious gas emission in growing pigs. A total of 150 [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] pigs with an average initial BW of 25.50 ± 2.50 kg were used in this experiment. Pigs were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary treatments (6 replicate pens per treatment with 5 pigs per pen). The experiment was separated into 3 phases, d 0 to 14, 15 to 28, and 29 to 42. Dietary treatments were as follows: 1) NC: basal diet; 2) PC: NC + 33 ppm tiamulin; 3) P1: NC + 0.05% probiotics (L. plantarum NLRI1201, 3.0 × 10⁸cfu/g; Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 7.9 × 10⁷cfu/g; Bacillus licheniformis DK42, 8.0 × 10⁸cfu/g); 4) P2: NC + 0.10% probiotics; 5) P3: NC + 0.20% probiotics. From d 15 to 28, average daily gain (ADG; 717 vs. 677 g) and gain/feed (0.453 vs. 0.424) in P3 were higher (P<0.05) compared with NC. From d 29 to 42, ADG (759, 770, 749 vs. 707 g) in P2, P3, and PC was enhanced (P<0.05) and gain/feed (0.345 vs. 0.321) in P3 improved (P<0.05) compared with NC. Overall, ADG (703 vs. 656 g) and gain/feed (0.409 vs. 0.383) in P3 increased (P<0.05) compared with NC. At the end of the experiment, digestibility of dry matter (81.71 vs. 78.14%) was increased (P<0.05) in the diet containing 0.20% probiotics compared with NC. Dietary supplementation of 0.20% probiotics reduced (P<0.05) fecal ammonia (18.8 vs. 22.9 ppm) and total mercaptans (1.0 vs. 2.2 ppm) emissions compared with that in NC. Results indicate that feeding 0.20% probiotics can improve growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and reduce fecal noxious gas emission in growing pigs.

Keywords: growing pig, growth performance, probiotics