Effect of Feeding Varying Levels of Lactobacillus Plantarum on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 360 pigs (PIC C-29 × 359, initial BW 5.95 ± 0.007 kg) were used in a 42-d trial evaluating the effects of feeding varying levels of Lactobacillus plantarum on nursery pig performance. Pigs were weaned at 18 to 20 d and allotted to pens based on initial BW and gender to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with 10 pigs per pen and 9 replications per treatment. Experimental diets were fed in 3 phases (Phase 1, d 0 to 7; Phase 2, d 7 to 21; and Phase 3, d 21 to 42). Treatment diets were formulated to include 0, 0.05, 0.10, or 0.20% Lactobacillus plantarum product (LP1; Nutraferma Inc., Sioux City, IA). All treatment diets within phase were formulated to similar nutrient levels with diets containing 15% and 7.5% lactose in Phase 1 and 2 respectively. Furthermore, all diets were fed in pellet form and did not include antibiotics. Data were analyzed using the PROC GLIMIX procedure in SAS with pen as the experimental unit. Dietary treatment served as the fixed effect in the model. Means were evaluated using preplanned linear and quadratic orthogonal contrasts. During Phase 1 and 2, there were no differences among dietary treatments. During Phase 3, ADG and ADFI were not influenced by treatment; however, increasing LP1 marginally improved G:F (0.716; 0.728; 0.728; 0.718 for the 0, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20 LP1 additions, respectively; quadratic P=0.085). Overall (d 0 to 42), no evidence for differences in growth performance were observed among dietary treatments. In conclusion, feeding increasing dietary levels of Lactobacillus plantarum had no evidence of an impact on nursery pig performance.

	Control	LP1				Probability, P <
Diets		0.05%	0.10%	0.20%	SEM	Linear	Quadratic
Initial BW, kg	5.95	5.94	5.94	5.95	0.007	0.689	0.483
ADG, g	418	411	410	410	7.0	0.508	0.567
ADFI, g	562	552	546	551	9.2	0.448	0.316
G:F	0.74	0.74	0.75	0.74	0.005	0.814	0.313
Final BW, kg	23.53	23.34	23.16	23.17	0.298	0.402	0.612