Unlocking the power of Probiotics: success stories from Denmark and Brazil

This project aimed to evaluate a brand-new diet for more miniature piglets. This can be interesting for farms that can get two different feeds and feed the bottom 10-15% of the piglets differently. Alternatively, it could be helpful for bigger companies with multiple farms which know the farms that consistently wean lighter piglets, they could use a diet like this one

Set up

• 1072 small piglets weaned at 25 days old where selected.
  • Control group 538 piglets at 4.2 kg
  • Test group 534 at 4.1 kg
  • No significant differences in weight at weaning weight
• The study was performed by TestPig at the Skjoldborg test station, and diets were formulated by the Danish Pig Advisory Service.
• The control group had a diet with 3000ppm of Zinc oxide.
• The test group had a diet with lower energy and crude protein level (16.1% CP) and it was supplemented
  • Encapsulated Organic Acids and Nature Compound 4kg/t
  • Probiotic: Bacillus sp. PB6 750g/t
  • Organic acids via water
• Both Groups had 0.5% of Benzoic Acid and Calcium Formate
• All piglets were fed either the test or control diet for 14 days post weaning only, after 14 days they were moved to a different room and transition within the first 3 days to the regular diet for the farm.
• Feed intake, Average Daily Gain, Feed Conversion Rate, mortality, and treatments were recorded. In addition, the number of days on which 1/3, 2/3, or 3/3 of the pen had diarrhoea was recorded.

Results

• There was no significant difference in the days with diarrhoea between the control group and the test group.
• Additionally, the test group had a better Feed Conversion rate of 1.51 in the control group vs. 1.4 in the test diet p<0.001. Refer to Table 1
• Although the diet was fed only for 14 days, it had a carry-over effect, reducing the Feed conversion rate significantly, proving that an alternative diet for small piglets is worth it.
• To confirm the trial, results were later evaluated in 3 farms with 400, 120 and 250 piglets with similar or better results than the original trial.

Table 1

In collaboration with Federal university of Lavras

Set up

• 240 weaned pigs at 23 days old with an average weaning weight of 6.7kg.
• 120 piglets were fed the control diet with antibiotics and 120 piglets the treatment diet with Bacillus sp. PB6.

• Piglets were weighed at the end of each phase; feed consumption was monitored.
• Diarrhoea was also scored (1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest incidence).

Results

• The pre-starter 1 phase is crucial as pigs have just been weaned, and we want them to be eaten as soon as possible. We have noticed a significant increase in average daily gain (ADG, 19% p<0.01), a 12% improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR) p<0.05, and a higher feed intake 6% more p<0.05.
• A summary of the pre started phase 1 can be seen below

• No significant differences were observed throughout the nursery period, which is positive as we can replace an antibiotic therapy option with probiotics.
• In addition, the total cost of feeding a piglet with the control diet cost €11.97 and the probiotic alternative 11.85€ (at the time of the trial). Thus, we can save 12 cents per pig in a sustainable way!