Effects of Outpaceâ„¢ and Ambitineâ„¢ Feed Additives on the Performance of Wean-to Finish Pigs

Five hundred twenty-eight crossbred pigs (PIC 337) were used to determine the effects of Outpace™ and Ambitine™ feed additives (blend of plant extracts and acidifiers) (PMI Nutritional Additives, Shoreview, MN) on growth performance during the wean-to-finish phase. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens (11 pigs/pen) on d 0 and fed a common diet for 21 d. Diets consisted of corn and soybean meal with the addition of dried distillers grains with solubles and were formulated on an ME and standardized ileal digestibility lysine basis, with no feed medications added. Weight gain and feed disappearance were measured to calculate ADG, ADFI, and G:F. On d 21, pens were randomly allotted based on BW to 1 of 2 dietary treatments (24 pens/trt). The 2 dietary treatments consisted of 1) Control diet (CNT), and 2) Control diet + Outpace (OP). Outpace was added at 0.25% of the diet at the expense of corn. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with pen serving as the experimental unit. Pigs were fed the CNT and OP diets for 39 d (10.8-36.7 kg BW). There were no differences (P > 0.10) in ADG (662 vs 667 g), ADFI (1.13 vs 1.16 kg), or G:F (0.58 vs 0.57) between pigs fed the 2 dietary treatments. Following this phase, from d 61-135, all pens were again fed a common diet. On d 136, pens were randomly allotted based on BW and previous trt (CNT vs OP) to 1 of 2 dietary treatments: 1) Control diet (CNT) or 2) Control diet + Ambitine (AMB). Ambitine was added to the finishing diet at 0.10% at the expense of corn. The CNT and AMB diets were fed for 38 days (101.4-130.6 kg BW). Weights were taken on d 136, 159, and 174 and carcass measurements were collected at slaughter. Pigs fed AMB tended (P = 0.07) to have greater ADG (0.769 vs 0.797 kg) and a 5% improvement (P = 0.01) in G:F (0.29 vs 0.31) compared with those fed CNT. Dietary treatment had no effect (P > 0.10) on ADFI (5.76 vs 5.69 kg) or final BW (130 vs 131 kg). There were no effects (P > 0.05) on carcass measures. These results suggest that feeding Outpace for a portion of the growing period had no impact on performance, but feeding Ambitine at the end of the finishing period improved feed efficiency and tended to increase ADG.