Abstract Previous results indicated dietary protein concentration did not influence the growth performance of pigs supplemented a saccharomyces yeast postbiotic (SYP, celluTEIN; Puretein Bioscience LLC, Minneapolis, MN, USA). Therefore, the study objective was to determine SYP effects on finishing pig growth performance when included in a standard commercial finishing diet. Pigs (PIC Camborough × PIC 337; N = 57 barrows and 51 gilts; initial BW 25.9 kg) were weighed, stratified by weight within sex, and within each two-pig strata, randomly assigned to a pen (N = 18; N = 6 pigs/pen). Pens were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments (Diet) consisting of 0 (SYP-) or 100ppm SYP (SYP+) mixed into a four-phase dietary regimen (Phase1, d 0 to 21; Phase2, d 22 to 42; Phase3, d 43 to 63; Phase4, d64 to 84). During Phase2, pigs were naturally infected by proliferative ileitis caused by Lawsonia intracellularis. Feed and pigs were weighed weekly to calculate growth performance and data were analyzed as completely randomized design with pen as the experimental unit. Statistical significance was determined at P ≤ 0.05 and tendencies were declared between 0.05 P ≤ 0.10. The SYP+ pigs tended to be heavier and have greater ADG during Phase3 (P = 0.08), but Diet did not influence BW, ADG, and ADFI during other phases (P 0.13). The SYP+ pigs had greater (P = 0.05) G:F ratio during Phase3, but there were no Diet effects during the other phases (P 0.21). Over the entire 84-d feeding period, there were no Diet effects on ADG, ADFI, and G:F (P 0.13). During a proliferative ileitis outbreak, SYP may have improved BW, ADG, and feed conversion during the phase following the outbreak. These data suggest SYP supplementation may have resulted in a quicker compensatory gain response following a health challenge and warrants further research into SYP influences during controlled health challenges.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.