Response of weaned pigs to spray-dried porcine plasma and feed-grade antibiotics compared with antibiotic free vegetarian diet supplemented with 3 different levels of a source of phytonutrients

Abstract Text: The objective of this study was to compare growth promoting properties of dietary spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) and feed grade antibiotics (Chlortetracycline and Denagard) as a positive control (PC), with a vegetarian diet without any antibiotics or SDPP as a negative control (NC), with NC that had three levels of a blend of phytonutrients Natures Fuel (NF) added: the dietary levels were NF1=2,270 g/t, NF2=4,540 g/t and NF3=6,810 g/t. Experiment 1 involved 1,334 pigs weighing 10.6 lbs and lasted for 49 days; Experiment 2 involved 1,270 21-d old pigs weighing 11.3 lbs and lasted for 37 days. In Experiment 1 pigs were diagnosed with E.coli scours 3 weeks on trial, that required water medication (Amoxicillin) on day 21, and in Experiment 2 pigs had therapeutic water medication (Amoxicillin) from day 0. A commercial wean-finish barn was used (33 pigs/pen, 8 pens/treatment) with a FANCOM feed system. Mixed model equations methods in SAS v9.3 PROC MIXED for repeated measurements was used, and the results are in Table 1. In Experiment 1 PC consumed more feed and grew faster than all other treatments (P<0.05). NF1 had a numerically greater ADG than NC, and NF treatments improved FCR (P<0.05), but NF3 reduced ADFI that caused reduced ADG. In Experiment 2 there was no difference in ADG or ADFI between PC and NC. ADFI was numerically increased by NF1 over NC, and being equal to PC, but ADFI were numerically reduced at NF2, and significantly at NF3 (P<0.05). Careful use of phytonutrients can improve performance in antibiotic free diets, but high levels can negatively affect performance.

      Table 1 Summary of performance from Experiment 1 and 2

	EXPERIMENT 1
	PC	NC	NF1	NF2	NF3	SEM
ADG, g/d	413a	358b	367b	359b	341b	9
ADFI, g/d	636a	563b	568b	563b	536b	9
FCR	1.64a	1.63a	1.56b	1.57b	1.47b	0.07
	EXPERIMENT 2
	PC	NC	NF1	NF2	NF3	SEM
ADG, g/d	313a	295a,b	291a,b	273b	263b	9
ADFI, g/d	468a	440a,b	468a	431a,b	390c	18
FCR	1.50a	1.54a	1.57a	1.57a	1.43a	0.06

Keywords: Pigs, Plasma, Plant extracts, Feed grade antibiotics