ABSTRACT:The weaning time is a crucial period in the management of piglets. The risk of development of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in piglets is high. PWD is the cause of serious economic losses in pig herds. Since 2006, the use of antibiotic growth promoters for prevention of diarrhoeal diseases in piglets has been banned. This measure also led to the investigation of alternative suitable feed supplements that would be reasonably efficient in protecting and sustaining animal health and performance. Various natural materials such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, zinc and plant extracts have been tested as effective alternatives to antibiotics. Recently, owing to their high adsorption capacity, research efforts have been conducted on the application of natural clays and clay-based feed supplements. The purpose of this review is to summarize the effect of different alternative components as growth promoters on the health and performance of weaned and growing piglets.Keywords: infection; swine; antibiotics; intestinal microflora; performance; probiotics; prebiotics, organic acids; zinc; phytobiotics; aluminosilicate List of abbreviations CFU = colony-forming unit; ETEC = enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli; MMT = montmorillonite; PWD = post weaning diarrhoea; SCFA = short chain fatty acids; VFA = volatile fatty acids Review ArticleVeterinarni Medicina, 55, 2010 (5): 199-224 200 ruses (Moller et al., 1998;Song et al., 2006), transmissive gastroenteritis virus (Hampson et al., 1987; Alexa et al., 1995 Alexa et al., , 2001 Chae et al., 2000;Madec et al., 2000;Melin et al., 2004;Song et al., 2006;Thomsson et al., 2008) and others have been most frequently diagnosed.Early-weaned piglets are exposed to several stress factors, with nutrition, etiology and indoor environment of housing being particularly implicated (Madec et al., 2000;Laine et al., 2008). Noninfectious stress factors which are involved in the development of gastroenteric disorders are: -age of piglets when they are weaned from their dam (Svensmark et al., 1989;Skirrow et al., 1997), -sudden change of feed from sow milk that provides piglets with immunoglobulins (Bailey et al., 1992), -irregular feed intake (Bark et al., 1986;Spencer and Howell, 1989;Svensmark et al., 1989;Madec et al., 1998;Laine et al., 2008), -feed structure (Amezcua et al., 2002), -animal hygiene and housing conditions (Le Dividich, 1981;Le Dividich and Herpin, 1994;Madec et al., 1998), -inadequate feeder space per piglet in the pen (Amezcua et al., 2002). Numerous changes in the early-weaned piglet body can initiate PWD, such as morphological (Hampson, 1986) and functional alterations of the small intestine (Kidder and Manners, 1980; Hampson and Kidder, 1986), changes in intestinal colonization with predominance of E. coli (Melin et al., 1997;Katouli et al., 1999) and weakening of the immune system (Blecha et al., 1983;Wattrang et al., 1998). Ban of antibiotic growth promotersRegarding the fact that weaning greatly affects general health condition of piglets, it is nece...

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Feeding kaolin as a supplement to pigs for prevention of diarrheal diseases has been introduced into some farms in the CzechRepublic. Peat was used in the 1990s for a similar purpose; however, most farmers ceased feeding peat as a supplement because of its frequent contamination with conditionally pathogenic mycobacteria, esp. with Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis. The aim of the present paper is to review available literature from the standpoint of the advantages and disadvantages related to feeding kaolin as a supplement to animals. Its positive effects exerted through the diet primarily consist in its adsorbent capability which may be useful for detoxification of the organism and for prevention of diarrheal diseases in pigs. Because the mechanism of action of kaolin fed as a supplement is unknown, a risk related to its potential interactions with other nutrient compounds of the diet exists. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effectiveness and safety of feeding kaolin in detail with regard to the health status and performance of each farm animal species. The disadvantage of kaolin use is its potential toxicity, provided it has been mined from the environment with natural or anthropogenic occurrence of toxic compounds. Another risk factor is a potential contamination of originally sterile kaolin with conditionally pathogenic mycobacteria from surface water, dust, soil, and other constituents of the environment in the mines during kaolin extraction, processing and storage.

The effects of live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain CNCM I-4407, 10(10) cfu/g; Actisaf; Lesaffre Feed Additives, Marcq-en-Baroeul, France) on the severity of diarrhea, immune response, and growth performance in weaned piglets orally challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strain O149:K88 were investigated. Live yeast was fed to sows and their piglets in the late gestation, suckling, and postweaning periods. Sows were fed a basal diet without (Control; n = 2) or with (Supplemented; n = 2) 1 g/kg of live yeast from d 94 of gestation and during lactation until weaning of the piglets (d 28). Suckling piglets of the supplemented sows were orally treated with 1 g of live yeast in porridge carrier 3 times a week until weaning. Weaned piglets were fed a basal starter diet without (Control; n = 19) or with (Supplemented; n = 15) 5 g of live yeast/kg feed for 2 wk. Significantly lower daily diarrhea scores (P < 0.05), duration of diarrhea (P < 0.01), and shedding of pathogenic ETEC bacteria (P < 0.05) in feces was detected in the supplemented piglets. Administration of live yeast significantly increased (P < 0.05) IgA levels in the serum of piglets. Evidence indicates that decreased infection-related stress and severity of diarrhea in yeast-fed weaned piglets positively affected their growth capacity in the postweaning period (P < 0.05). The results suggest that dietary supplementation with live yeast S. cerevisiae to sows and piglets in the late gestation, suckling, and postweaning periods can be useful in the reduction of the duration and severity of postweaning diarrhea caused by ETEC.

ABSTRACT:The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of kaolin feeding on health status, body weight gain (BWG), course of diarrhoeal infections caused by enterotoxigenic strains of Escherichia coli (ETEC) and the level of mycobacterial contamination in weaned piglets. The testing was performed in two experiments involving 40 weaned piglets at the age of 28 days. In the infection-free experiment, piglets were fed a diet without (C0) or with 1% content of kaolin (K0) for 20 days. Subsequently, all of them were fed the same diet without kaolin supplementation for 39 days. Identical diets were fed during the infection experiment, and moreover, both groups (CI and KI) were orally infected with ETEC (O141:F18ac, STa+) on Day 1 of experiment. The short-term feeding of kaolin to weaned piglets had a significant positive effect on their BWG. During the period of feeding the kaolin-containing diets, BWG in C0 and K0 were 0.20 and 0.29 kg, respectively (P < 0.05), and in CI and KI 0.13 and 0.19 kg, respectively (P < 0.05). There was no evidence of side effects to their health, neither was there any change in biochemical and haematological profiles. In the infection experiment, a protective effect of kaolin on the course of ETEC infection was evident. Colonization and shedding of ETEC by piglets fed the kaolin diet were milder and had a shorter duration in comparison with control piglets. The culture examination of pure kaolin and kaolin containing diets for mycobacteria were negative. Potentially pathogenic mycobacteria occurring in the environment were isolated from faeces and tissues of pigs. According to these results, supplementation of diets with 1% kaolin to prevent diarrhoea in piglets and to support their growth in the critical post-weaning period could be recommended.