Abstract Dietary supplementation of yeast carbohydrates in weaned pigs improves growth performance and decreases the incidence of diarrhea, however there isn't information about the use of water-based yeast carbohydrate (WYC) in nursery pigs which may be a more effective method of supplementation in the first days after weaning when feed intake is low. This study evaluated fecal consistency and growth performance of two groups of nursery pigs supplemented with water-based yeast carbohydrate. Two groups of weaned pigs from two different boar genetic lines were evaluated. The first group had 308 pigs (PIC 1050 sow x boar line 1) and the second group had 220 pigs (PIC 1050 sow x boar line 2), both at 19 ± 2 d of age. Pigs were weighed and allocated to 44 pens (7/pen group 1 and 5/pen group 2) with sex ratios maintained within body weight blocks. Pens were assigned to one of 4 treatments in a randomized complete block design: Control: standard corn-soybean meal diet; 2.5: control + WYC at 2.5 mL/L; 5: control + WYC at 5 mL/L; 7.5: control + WYC at 7.5 mL/L. Diets were formulated to meet requirements in a nursery program of 3 phases (Phase 1: d0 – 10; Phase 2: d10 – 24; Phase 3: d24 – 45) and the WYC was supplemented using water-medicator to provide the tested doses during Phase 1. Pig BW and feed disappearance were measured at the end of each phase. Fecal scoring was assessed daily in the first 2 weeks and two times per week for the following three weeks. Growth performance data was analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX and fecal data with PROC FREQ procedure in SAS. There were no differences (P 0.05) in ADG (0.44 ± 0.01), ADFI (0.67 ± 0.02), and G:F (0.66 ± 0.01) between treatments in both genetic groups during the whole nursery period. However, pigs from boar line 1 were heavier (6.1 vs 5.5 ± 0.2 kg) at weaning which was reflected in ADG in phase 1 (0.1 vs 0.05 ± 0.01 kg/d) and percent of pigs that lost weight from wean to day 10 (2.9 vs 19.5 ± 2.9), but similar BW at day 45 (26 vs. 25.3 ± 0.7 kg) compared with pigs from boar line 2. In boar line 2, the 5 mL/L and 7.5 mL/L of WYC treatment lowered incidence of diarrhea (X2 0.05) during phase2 (0: 50%, 2.5: 49%, 5: 38.2%, 7.5: 38.9%) compared with 2.5 mL/L and control. Water-based yeast carbohydrate supplementation in pigs during the first 10 days after weaning did not affect growth performance during the nursery period. However, in pigs with low feed intake and growth immediately after weaning, 5 WYC may help reduce incidence of diarrhea.
Trowbridge et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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