150 Effects of specialty lipids as alternatives to conventional antimicrobial feed additives on nursery pig growth performance

Abstract

Abstract There is consumer and regulatory pressure to reduce the use of conventional antimicrobial feed additives in pork production. A total of 360 pigs (DNA 241×600, initially 5.4±0.07 kg BW) were used in a 35-d study evaluating the ability for specialty lipids to replace ZnO or carbadox in nursery diets. Pigs were allotted in a completely randomized design (6 pigs/pen and 10 pens/treatment) to one of six diets: 1) control; 2) control + 3,000 ppm ZnO in phase 1 and 2,000 ppm ZnO in phase 2; 3) control + 50 g/ton carbadox; 4) control + 1% C6:C8:C10 medium chain fatty acid (MCFA) blend; 5) control + 1% proprietary oil blend (Feed Energy Corp., Des Moines, IA); and 6) control + 1% monolaurate blend (FORMI GML, ADDCON GmbH, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany). Treatment diets were fed in two phases (d 0 to 19) followed by a common diet (d 19 to 35). During the treatment period, pigs fed ZnO or carbadox had greater (P< 0.05) ADG than pigs fed the control or proprietary oil blend, with pigs fed the MCFA or monolaurate blends being intermediate. Pigs fed diets containing ZnO had greater (P< 0.05) ADFI than those fed the control, MCFA, or propriety oil blends. Pigs fed ZnO or carbadox had higher (P< 0.05) blood glucose on d 19 and firmer (P< 0.05) fecal scores on d 3 than pigs fed all other diets. No differences (P >0.05) were observed during the common period (d 19 to 35), however sufficient early growth differences subsequently impacted overall ADG and ADFI. In summary, ZnO and carbadox are valuable additives to maximize early nursery growth, but specialty lipid products may result in similar performance while others may restrict it. Additional research is warranted to identify optimal lipid blends to effectively replace ZnO or carbadox in nursery pig diets.