Protected Organic Acid Blends as an Alternative to Antibiotics in Finishing Pigs

Abstract

A total of 120 finishing pigs ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of 49.72 ±1.72 kg were used in 12-wk trial to evaluate the effects of protected organic acids on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal micro flora, meat quality and fecal gas emission. Pigs were randomly allotted to one of three dietary treatments (10 replication pens with 4 pigs per pen) in a randomly complete block design based on their initial BW. Each dietary treatment consisted of: Control (CON/basal diet), OA1 (basal diet+0.1% organic acids) and OA2 (basal diet+0.2% organic acids). Dietary treatment with protected organic acid blends linearly improved (p<0.001) average daily gain during 0 to 6 week, 6 to 12 week as well as overall with the increase in their inclusion level in the diet. The dry matter, N, and energy digestibility was higher (linear effect, p<0.001) with the increase in the dose of protected organic acid blends during 12 week. During week 6, a decrease (linear effect, p = 0.01) in fecal ammonia contents was observed with the increase in the level of protected organic acid blends on d 3 and d 5 of fermentation. Moreover, acetic acid emission decreased linearly (p = 0.02) on d7 of fermentation with the increase in the level of protected organic acid blends. During 12 weeks, linear decrease (p<0.001) in fecal ammonia on d 3 and d 5 and acetic acid content on d 5 of fermentation was observed with the increase in the level of protected organic acid blends. Supplementation of protected organic acid blends linearly increased the longissimus muscle area with the increasing concentration of organic acids. Moreover, color of meat increased (linear effect, quadratic effect, p<0.001, p<0.002 respectively) and firmness of meat showed quadratic effect (p = 0.003) with the inclusion of increasing level of protected organic acid in the diet. During the 6 week, increment in the level of protected organic acid blends decreased (linear effect, p = 0.01) Escherichia coli (E. coli) counts and increased (linear effect, p = 0.004) Lactobacillus counts. During 12-wk of experimental trial, feces from pigs fed diet supplemented with organic acid blends showed linear reduction (p<0.001) of E. coli counts and the tendency of linear increase (p = 0.06) in Lactobacillus count with the increase in the level of organic acid blends. In conclusion, 0.2% protected organic acids blends positively affected growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal gas emission and meat quality in finishing pigs without any adverse effects on blood parameters.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of supplementing micro-encapsulated organic acids and essential oils in diets for sows and suckling piglets

“…Our results are in agreement with previous experiments that showed feeding a diet supplemented with protected OA blends, improved ADG, feed efficiency and did not affect ADFI (Upadhaya et al 2014(Upadhaya et al , 2015b. It has been reported that the addition of single or blends of OA may have a negative effect on the palatability of the diet, thus decreasing ADFI (Walsh et al 2007).…”

Protected Organic Acids Improved Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Decreased Gas Emission in Broilers

“…Active ingredients such as citric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, and MCFAs are dispersed in a matrix of shell material, a lipid which can allow the active components to reach the intestine in an intact form, and be released slowly by the reaction of lipase from the intestine thereby showing beneficial effects to animals [10,28]. It has been previously reported that using the same product of protected blend of OA and MCFA supplementation in diets improved growth performance of piglets, and growing and finishing pigs [7,10,29] as well as laying hens [20]. In this study, we also observed that the BWG and FCR were linearly improved when broilers were fed the diets supplemented with the blend of OAs and MCFAs.…”

Microencapsulated organic acid blend with MCFAs can be used as analternative to antibiotics for laying hens

“…In addition to organic acids, MCFAs are also used as alternatives to antibiotics due to their similar effects as those of organic acids on antimicrobial activities outside the intestinal tract and on reducing pH (20). We have previously reported that dietary supplementation of a microencapsulated organic acid blend with MCFAs has positive effects on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in growing (13) and finishing (14,15) pigs,…”

“…In our previous reports, the dietary supplementation of a microencapsulated organic acid blend with inorganic acids such as MCFAs or essential oil had positive effects on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility in growing (13) and finishing pigs (14,15), but not yet in layer hens. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a microencapsulated organic acid blend with MCFAs on egg production, weight, quality, fecal microflora, and nutrient digestibility in laying hens.…”