Evaluation of Elarom SES in Nursery Pig Diets with or without the Inclusion of High Zinc Oxide or Feed Antimicrobials

Weaned pigs (n=360, initially 5.2±0.04 kg BW) were used in a 42-d study evaluating the effects of feeding Elarom SES in combination with high levels of ZnO and/or antimicrobials on nursery pig performance and fecal consistency. Elarom SES (Trouw Nutrition USA, Highland, IL) is a commercially available blend of short and medium chain fatty acids and slow release organic acids designed to enhance growth performance and gut health. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21-d and allotted to pens with 9 replications/ treatment based on initial BW in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments were arranged as a 2×2×2 factorial. The 8 treatment diets included: Elarom SES (none vs. 0.2%), additional ZnO (none vs. 3,000 ppm in phase 1, 2,000 ppm in phase 2, and none in phase 3), and antimicrobial regimen (none vs. 440 ppm CTC and 38.5 ppm Denagard in phase 1 and 55 ppm Mecadox in phases 2 and 3). Experimental diets were fed in meal form in 3 phases (Phase 1, d 0 to 7; Phase 2, d 7 to 21; and Phase 3, d 21 to 42). Overall, an Elarom SES × ZnO × antimicrobial interaction was observed for ADG (P=0.043) and G:F (P=0.010). Adding antibiotics to the diet increased (P<0.013) ADG and ADFI, but there were no main effects of ZnO or Elarom SES observed. There were no individual or overall treatment effects (P>0.100) or treatment × day interactions (P=0.53) observed for fecal consistency. In summary, some benefits in performance were observed when adding certain combinations of feed additives in the diet compared to including them alone or when all three were fed together.

Elarom SES	-	+	-	-	+	+	-	+
ZnO	-	-	+	-	+	-	+	+
Antimicrobial	-	-	-	+	-	+	+	+	SEM
d 0 to 21
ADG,ga,b	206	195	224	240	242	243	258	268	7.03
G:Fb,c	0.826	0.808	0.816	0.886	0.859	0.858	0.885	0.890	0.014
d 21 to 42
ADG,ga,d	532	526	478	549	533	507	539	475	15.01
G:Fa,b,d	0.709	0.706	0.676	0.676	0.698	0.668	0.684	0.631	0.008
d 0 to 42
ADG,gb,d,e	369	360	351	391	388	373	397	372	9.05
G:Fd,e	0.738	0.731	0.716	0.730	0.741	0.720	0.739	0.705	0.006
aZnO (P<0.05), bAntimicrobial (P<0.05), cElarom×ZnO (P<0.05), dElarom SES×Antimicrobial (P<0.05), eElarom SES×ZnO×Antimicrobial (P<0.05).