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Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of administration of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and Bifidobacterium longumon growth performance and fecal bacterial populations in pigs weaned at 18 d of age. In exp. 1, two groups of 20 pigs each were fed diets containing 0 or 0.5% FOS for 21 d. On days 1 and 3, pigs receiving FOS were administered an oral dose of 10 10 B. longumcells. During week 1, average daily gain was higher and feed efficiency was improved (P < 0.05) in pigs fed FOS and bifidobacteria relative to the control. On day 7, supplemented pigs had reduced numbers of total anaerobes and clostridia, and increased numbers of bifidobacteria in faeces (P < 0.05). In exp. 2, 80 pigs were divided into four groups of 20 animals each in a 2 x 2 factorial design. Main effects included FOS supplementation (0 or 0.5% of diet) and B. longum supplementation (0 or 10 7 cells per gram feed). FOS supplementation reduced growth while B. longum supplementation increased growth (P< 0.05). On days 12 and 19, serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) was reduced with FOS supplementation and increased with B. longum supplementation (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the continuous administration of bifidobacteria provided a beneficial effect on growth parameters studied in this experiment. Key words: Pigs, fructooligosaccharides, bifidobacteria, Bifidobacterium longum, performance
Estrada et al. (Thu,) studied this question.