Abstract
Abstract A total of 1,215 pigs (L337×1050, PIC, Hendersonville, TN) were used in a 156-d wean-to-finish experiment. Pigs were weaned at 21 d of age and placed in pens based on initial body weight (BW) with 27 pigs/pen. There were three dietary treatments including a: 1) control; 2) pigs fed diets containing AviPlus (micro-encapsulated sorbic and citric acids and synthetic thymol and vanillin botanicals; Vetagro Inc., Chicago, IL) during the nursery and finisher phases; or 3) pigs fed AviPlus during the nursery but not the finishing phase. AviPlus was included at 2.72 kg/ton from d 0 to 21, 0.90 kg/ton from d 21 to 42, and 0.45 kg/ton from d 42 to 156. Thus, there were 15 control pens and 30 Aviplus pens in the nursery and 15 pens for the 3 treatments in the finisher phase. On d 42, pigs were transported as intact pens to the finishing facility. Data were analyzed as a RCBD with pen as experimental unit. For the overall nursery period (d 0 to 42), pigs fed AviPlus had improved (P < 0.05) G:F, with no evidence of difference (P > 0.05) for d 42 BW, ADG, or ADFI. For the overall finishing period (d 42 to 156) and overall experimental period (d 0 to 156), there was no evidence of difference (P > 0.05) for BW, ADG, ADFI, or G:F. There was no evidence of difference (P > 0.05) observed for mortality and removals during the nursery, finisher, or overall. In summary, providing AviPlus during the nursery improved nursery G:F, but there was no effect on overall wean-to-finish performance.
Highlights
Due to growing public concerns related to antibiotic resistance for antibiotic use and other growth promoters used in swine diets, there is an increased interest to identify alternative ingredients that elicit similar health and performance responses
Calderón,[2] Kaylee Keppy,[3] Kevin Stephens,[3] and Philip Maynard[3]. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of AviPlus on growth performance during the wean-to-finish period in a commercial research environment
From d 0 to 21, pigs fed diets with AviPlus had a tendency for improved (P < 0.058) F/G when compared to pigs fed the control diet; there was no evidence of difference (P > 0.05) for ADG, ADFI, or d 21 body weight (BW)
Summary
Due to growing public concerns related to antibiotic resistance for antibiotic use and other growth promoters used in swine diets, there is an increased interest to identify alternative ingredients that elicit similar health and performance responses. Organic acids have been reported to reduce potential pathogens along the gastrointestinal tract, reduce the pH of the gastrointestinal tract, and improve growth performance of growing pigs.[4] Microencapsulation of nutrients and organic acids has the potential to distribute those nutrients along the gastrointestinal tract, providing a benefit to the animal.[5] Due to their broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity, essential oils, such as thymol and vanillin, extracted from edible plants are emerging as a substitute for antibiotics.[6] Recent research has shown that a commercial product (AviPlus, Vetagro Inc., Chicago, IL) that is a combination of micro-encapsulated sorbic and citric acids and synthetic thymol and vanillin botanicals improved the growth performance during the wean-to-finish period.[7] Research is needed to verify this response under commercial conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of AviPlus during the wean-to-finish period in a commercial research environment
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