The Impact of a Sulfur-Containing Preservative Blend on Growth Performance of Growing Pigs (30-100 kg) Fed Diets Containing Deoxynivalenol (DON)

Deoxynivalenol (DON) negatively impacts intestinal health, reduces nutrient transport, and suppresses the immune response. Collectively these deleterious responses can significantly reduce growth performance and profitability of swine production. Defusion^® (Provimi, Brookville, OH) is a complex product, formulated to support animal health and growth. The components of Defusion include a blend of sulfur-containing preservative, antioxidants, and other components to support gut integrity. This study evaluated the impact of Defusion on ADG, ADFI, and G:F of growing pigs fed diets containing DON. A total of 1,080 pigs (initial BW = 29.5 ± 2.9 kg) were used in a 10 wk study with 9 pens/treatment, and 24 pigs/pen. Pigs were blocked by initial BW and randomly allotted to one of 5 treatments within block. The treatments were: 1) Low DON corn and soybean meal (CON), 2) Corn and DDGS containing DON (quality challenged, QC) + 0% Defusion, 3) QC + 0.25% Defusion, 4) QC + 0.375% Defusion, and 5) QC + 0.5% Defusion. The average DON level of the CON and QC diets were 1.3 and 4.0 ppm, respectively. Pen weights and feed intake were collected weekly throughout the trial and data were summarized by feeding phase. Return over feed cost (ROFC) for each treatment was calculated by assuming the return at $2.20 per kg of gain. Orthogonal contrasts were constructed and data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS 9.3 (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). The overall ADG of treatment 1 to 5 were 0.91, 0.78, 0.86, 0.85, and 0.84 kg/d, respectively. The ROFC for the 5 treatments were $108.69, $94.10, $104.41, $102.32, and $100.10, respectively. The QC diet with 0% Defusion decreased final BW, ADG, ADFI, and ROFC compared with CON (P < 0.01). Supplementation of Defusion in QC diets (treatments 2-5) linearly and quadratically increased final BW, ADG, and ROFC (P < 0.05). The G:F of treatments 1 to 5 were 0.402, 0.404, 0.417, 0.416, and 0.411, respectively. Feed efficiency was quadratically improved (P < 0.01) as Defusion increased in QC diets (treatment 2-5). In conclusion, the addition of Defusion at 0.25 to 0.50% of complete diet can alleviate some of the negative performance impact displayed by growing pigs fed diets containing DON.