PSIV-B-42 Late-Breaking: Effects of dietary inactivated probiotics on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and immune responses of weaned pigs

Abstract

Abstract The study was conducted to investigate effects of dietary inactivated probiotics on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and immune responses of weaned pigs. A total of 96 weaned pigs (initial BW = 6.95 ± 0.25 kg) were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments with increasing levels of inactive probiotics (4 pigs/replicate; 6 replicates/treatment; 0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4%; CON, T1, T2, and T3) in a randomized complete block design (BW and sex as blocks). The inactivated probiotics used in this experiment was a commercial product (CJ CheilJedang Biotechnology Research Institute, Seoul, Korea) containing 1 x 106 CFU/g on stains of Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Pigs were fed respective dietary treatments for 4 weeks. During the last week of the experimental period, pigs were fed their respective dietary treatments containing 0.2% chromic oxide. Fecal samples were collected by rectal palpation daily for the last 3 days after the 4-day adjustment period during the last week of experiment. Blood was collected from randomly selected one pig each pen on d 1, 3, 7, and 14 after weaning. Measurements were growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), TNF-α, TGF-β, CRP, and cortisol by ELISA. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. The inactivated probiotics increased ADG (471, 501, and 513 vs. 428 g/d; P < 0.05) and G:F (0.65, 0.69, and 0.71 vs. 0.58 g/g; P < 0.05) during overall experimental period compared with CON. The inactivated probiotics increased ATTD of GE (86.87, 87.29, and 88.53 vs. 85.25%; P < 0.05) compared with CON. The inactivated probiotics decreased TNF-α (600, 542, and 523 vs. 849 pg/ml; P < 0.05) and cortisol (5.58, 5.56, and 5.44 vs. 7.25 ng/ml; P < 0.05) on d 7 compared with CON. In conclusion, addition of inactivated probiotics improved growth performance, and nutrient digestibility, and modified immune responses.