Study on the Development of a Probiotics Complex for Weaned Pigs

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementation of a probiotics complex on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, diarrhea score and microbial population in pigs weaned at 21 days of age. Treatments were 1) control A (0.2% antibiotics, Avilamycin), 2) control B (0.1 % $Ractocom^{(R)}$), 3) 0.1%, 4) 0.2% and 5) 0.3% probiotics complex; 80 pigs were used and each treatment had 4 replicates with 4 pigs per replicate (16 pigs per treatment). During phase I period (d 0 to 14), although there was no significant difference, pigs fed control B diet showed higher ADG (average daily gain) and better F/G (feed/gain) than any other treatments. During late experimental period (d 15 to 28), pigs fed diet supplemented with 0.2% probiotics complex showed slightly higher ADG. Overall (d 0 to 28) the diet that contained 0.2% probiotics complex gave slightly higher ADG and ADFI (average daily feed intake) than the other diets. In a metabolic trial using 20 piglets, nutrient digestibility showed the best results in pigs fed 0.2% probiotics complex diet, but not significantly different from other groups. Diarrhea score and microbial population status in intestine, colon and feces were not affected by dietary treatments. In conclusion, this study suggested that a newly developed probiotics complex can replace antibiotics in weaned pigs.