Effects of mannan oligosaccharide and an antimicrobial product in nursery diets on performance of pigs reared on three different farms1

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to compare the effects of dietary mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) and a feed-grade antimicrobial (AM) on growth performance of nursery pigs reared on three different farms (A and B were large-scale commercial farms, and C was located at Michigan State University). On all farms, production was continuous flow by building, but all-in/all-out by room. Within each nursery facility, all pigs on the experiment were in one room. Pigs (Farm A, n = 771, weaning age = 18.4 d; Farm B, n = 576, weaning age = 19.0 d; Farm C, n = 96, weaning age = 20.6 d) were blocked (within farm) by BW and sex and allotted randomly to dietary treatments arranged in a 2 x 2 factorial. The two factors were 1) with and without MOS (0.3% in Phase I, 0.2% in Phases II, III, and IV; as-fed basis) and 2) with and without AM (110 mg of tylosin and 110 mg of sulfamethazine/kg of diet in all phases; as-fed basis). The four nursery phases were 4, 7, 14, and 17 d, respectively. With 35, 20, and 4 pigs per pen on Farms A, B, and C, respectively, space allowances per pig were 0.29, 0.26, and 0.56 m2. Across all farms, the addition of AM and MOS plus AM increased (P < 0.05) ADG (368, 406, and 410 g/d for control, AM, and MOS plus AM, respectively and increased ADFI (661, 703, and 710 g/d for control, AM, and MOS plus AM, respectively) for the entire 42-d experiment. The addition of MOS also increased ADG (P < 0.05) from d 0 to 42 of the experiment (394 g/d). Performance differed depending on farm (P < 0.01). Antimicrobial did not affect growth performance on Farm B, but it increased (P < 0.05) ADG on Farms A and C, ADFI on Farm A, and G:F on Farm C. Growth improvements with MOS on Farms A and B were not significant; however, pigs on Farm C fed MOS had greater (P < 0.05) ADG, ADFI, and G:F than controls. The results of this study suggest that MOS may be an alternative to tylosin and sulfa-methazine as a growth promotant in nursery diets.

The effect of fermented wheat germ extract on production parameters and immune status of growing pigs

“…Such potential enhancement of daily weight gain by FWGE might be considerable in terms of production efficiency due to reduction of the time between weaning and finishing. This improvement is comparable to those obtained with growth promoter antibiotics in pigs of similar weight (e.g., Rosenboom et al, 2005). Antibiotic replacers/alternatives such as copper and zinc, organic acids, essential oils, probiotics, prebiotics (predominantly with fructose-oligosaccharides, FOS) were reported to improve the growth rate of pigs at different extent.…”

Effect of gut active carbohydrates on plasma IgG concentrations in piglets and calves

“…Through this mode of action, GAC has been shown to improve animal health and performance. Published data have shown consistent improvements in piglet, sow, broiler and turkey performance (Miguel et al, 2002;Hooge et al, 2003;Sims et al, 2004;Hooge, 2004a and2004b;Rozeboom et al, 2005) where GAC has been fed over a continuous period of time. In many cases, this work has been focused on the practical replacement of antibiotic growth promoters in animal feeds, and maintenance of the performance of the groups of animals (Hooge, 2004a and2004b).…”

Exopolysaccharides Synthesized by Lactobacillus reuteri Protect against Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Piglets

“…However, only a few in vivo studies indicated that selected glycans decrease illness incidence in piglets. For example, dietary mannan oligosaccharides promoted the growth of nursery piglets in three farms (20), and chitooligosaccharide increased the growth of weaning piglets and decreased the incidence of diarrhea (21). The limited number of animal studies, however, hampers practical application of dietary glycans to prevent pathogen adhesion.…”