Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the eff ect of sows gestating or lactating diets supplemented with a commercial probiotic preparation (liveyeast culture - Saccharomyces cerevisiae, “Actisaf Sc47®”) on their health status, as well as the health status and productivity of their piglets during lactation. A total of 120 sows were divided into three groups: fi rst (G, n=40) and second (L, n=40) group was fed diets with probiotic during pregnancy (G) or lactation (L), respectively. Th e third group (C, n = 40) was the control, which was fed without probiotic. Uterus and/or the udder diseases were manifested in the smaller (p<0.01) proportion in treated group (G=7.5%, L=12.5%) compared to control group (22.5%). Th e incidence of piglets diarrhea was lower (p<0.05) in the treated litters (12.5%) compared to the control litters (27.5 %). The average weaned piglets per litter (p/l) and weaning litter weight (lw) (G=11.6 p/l and 103.6 kg/lw; L=11.1 p/l and 102.8 kg/lw, C=10 p/l and 79 kg/lw) were higher (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively) in treated, compared to the control sows. Th ese results show that the use of probiotic signifi cantly improves the health status of lactating sows and piglets, as well as the piglets productivity within lactation.
Highlights
Under the intensive production conditions, sows are exposed to numerous chronically stresogenic factors (Hyun et al, 1998; Sutherland et al, 2006), which reduce their immunity (Kick et al, 2012) and increase susceptibility to various infectious agents (Sutherland et al, 2006)
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sows gestating or lactating diets supplemented with a commercial probiotic preparation on their health status, as well as the health status and productivity of their piglets during lactation
The average weaned piglets per litter (p/l) and weaning litter weight (G=11.6 p/l and 103.6 kg/lw; L=11.1 p/l and 102.8 kg/ lw, C=10 p/l and 79 kg/lw) were higher (p
Summary
Under the intensive production conditions, sows are exposed to numerous chronically stresogenic factors (Hyun et al, 1998; Sutherland et al, 2006), which reduce their immunity (Kick et al, 2012) and increase susceptibility to various infectious agents (Sutherland et al, 2006). The problem of lower sow reproductive performance, as a result of reduced immunity and increased infective agents resistance to conventional antimicrobial preparation, is frequently attempt to solve by using probiotic preparations as natural immunomodulators (Blecha, 2001; Gallois et al, 2008; Zvekić et al, 2012; Apić and Zvekić, 2013). Live yeast culture (Gallois et al, 2009; Trckova et al, 2014) or their bioactive products (Kogan and Kocher, 2007; Shen et al, 2011) are one of the most active natural immunomodulator added to feed in order to prevent infectious diseases of the udder and the uterus, as well as to increase the reproductive performance of sows and their litters. According to previous studies, the effectiveness of replacing conventional antimicrobial agents with probiotics for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, as well as their impact on the sows reproductive performance, are not entirely consistent (Zvekić et al, 2012; Gallois et al, 2009; Trckova et al, 2014; Apić and Zvekić, 2013). The results of Serbian authors (Gagrčin et al, 2002; Stančić et al, 2012), demonstrated that in more than 50% of pig farms in R. of Serbia, there is a problem of udder and/or uterus infectious diseases (mastitis-metritis-agalactia syndrome; MMA - syndrome), resulting in significantly reduced sows reproductive performance
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