The Effects of Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Products As an Alternative to Antibiotics

This experiment compared the effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation products (LAFP) to carbadox and copper sulfate on growth performance and complete blood counts (CBC). Eight hundred pigs were weaned at 24 d of age and utilized in a randomized block design (4 farrowing groups, blocked by litter, gender and weaning weight). Pigs were blocked into 1 of 48 pens and received either control diets (C; 2 phase nursery regime), C + carbadox (25 g/ton of feed)/CuSO₄ (250 mg/kg of feed), or C + LAFP (0.91 kg/ton of feed) for 28 d. Feed disappearance and BW were recorded weekly. Blood samples from 12 pigs per treatment (median BW) were collected on d 28 for CBC. No differences were observed due to dietary treatments from d 0 to 14 of study (P > 0.10). Pigs fed Carbadox/CuSO₄ grew at a greater rate (0.488 ± 0.028 vs 0.408 ± 0.025 and 0.422 ± 0.025 kg/d, respectively; P < 0.05) and had improved feed conversion (gain:feed, G:F; 0.751 ± 0.017 vs. 0.662 ± 0.017 and 0.694 ± 0.011 kg/kg, respectively; P < 0.05) than C and LAFP-fed pigs from d 14 to 28 of the experiment. Similarly, ADG (P < 0.05), ADFI (P < 0.10) and G:F (P < 0.05) were increased for the entire 28-d study when compared to LAFP or the control diet (Table 1). No difference in growth performance was seen between LAFP and the control diet throughout the experiment (P > 0.10). Pigs fed LAFP showed greater red blood cell (RBC) size (P < 0.10) and increased amount of hemoglobin per RBC (P < 0.05). Pigs consuming Carbadox/CuSO₄ had decreased RBC distribution width (P < 0.05) and elevated numbers of basophils (P < 0.10). Results suggest that pigs fed diets supplemented with LAFP performed similar to pigs not supplemented in an unstressed environment. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Table 1: LAFP & Carbadox/CuSO4 supplementation on growth performance and CBC
	Diet
Variable	Control	Control+Carbadox/CuSO4	C+LAFP
Ending BW, kg	15.01±0.16 a	16.32±0.18 b	15.07±0.17 a
ADG Overall, kg/d	0.262±0.017a	0.315±0.018b	0.265±0.018a
ADFI Overall, kg×pen-1×d-1	7.77±0.25x	8.34±0.20y	7.73±0.19x
G:F Overall, kg/kg	0.670±0.016a	0.753±0.015b	0.702±0.008a
Basophils, %	1.50±0.12x	1.68±0.14y	1.39±0.08x
RBC Distribution Width, %	21.61±0.71a	23.20±1.03b	20.61±0.75a
Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin, pg	17.22±0.53a	16.42±0.48a	18.08±0.34b
Mean Corpuscular Volume, fL	53.82±1.52x	52.03±1.37x	55.65±0.75y
a,bWithin a row, means without a common superscript differ (P < 0.05).
x,yWithin a row, means without a common superscript differ (P < 0.10).