Effect of protected organic acid blends on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and faecal micro flora in growing pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of protected organic acid blends on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and faecal micro flora in growing pigs. A total of 100 crossed [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] with an initial body weight (BW) of 23.4 ± 1.27 kg were used in a six-week trial. Pigs were randomly allocated into one of four treatments (five replications with five pigs per pen) in a randomly complete block design based on their BW. Treatments consisted of CON, basal diet; MC1, basal diet + protected organic acid 0.1%; MC2, basal diet + protected organic acid 0.2%; MC3, basal diet + protected organic acid 0.4%. BW and feed intake were measured initially and at the end of six weeks to determine average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and gain/feed. The digestibility of nutrients and faecal micro flora was also assessed at the end of the experiment. The pigs fed MC2 diet showed greater ADG and G:F than pigs fed the control diet. Linear effects for ADG (linear, P = 0.04) as well as G: F (linear, P = 0.03) were observed. Dietary supplementation with 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.4% protected organic acid did not affect dry matter, N and energy digestibility. Supplementation of 0.2% protected organic acid increased (P < 0.05) faecal Lactobacillus population counts (linear, P = 0.01). Our result suggests that protected organic acid has the potential to enhance growth performance and improve microbial population in growing pigs.