189 Combination of organic acid and monoglyceride blend improved growth performance in nursery pigs with and without added antibiotics and ZnO

Abstract This study was to investigate the effects of supplementing a combination of organic acid and monoglyceride additives in feed with and without added antibiotics and pharmacological levels of ZnO on growth performance of nursery pigs. Pigs (n = 1,008; 21 d of age with initial body weight (BW) = 5.8] were assigned to 4 treatments (n = 12, 21 pigs/pen, mixed sex) following 2 × 2 factorial experiment design and fed for 42 d in 4 phases (d 0-8, d 9-21, d 22-35, and d 36-42, respectively). Treatments were 1) Positive control (PC), basal diet with in-feed antibiotics in phase 1-3, and 3000 ppm of Zn in phase 1, 2000 ppm of Zn in phase 2 and 125 ppm of Zn in phase 3 and 4 (i.e., pharmacological levels); 2) PC supplemented with the combination of Acitra G20C (formic acid-based acid blend on inert carrier) and Entero-Nova 410C (blend of monoglycerides of short-chain and medium-chain fatty acids on inert carrier), Acitra G20C was added at 3 kg/MT in phase 1 diet and 1.5 kg/MT in phase 2 diet, while Entero-Nova 410C was added at 3 kg/MT in phase 1 and 2 diets, and 1 kg/MT in phase 3 and 4 diets; 3) Negative control (NC), basal diet without in-feed antibiotics and pharmacological levels of ZnO; and 4) NC supplemented with the combination of Acitra G20C and Entero-Nova 410C (same supplementation rate as Treatment 2). Diets contained nutrients meeting or exceeding NRC requirements. Growth performance was measured for each phase. Data were analyzed using JMP software with pen serving as the experimental unit and differences considered significant at P ≤ 0.05. Throughout the trial, pigs fed diets without in-feed antibiotics and pharmacological levels of ZnO had ess (P 0.01) BW, average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) than pigs fed diets added with antibiotics and pharmacological levels of ZnO. During the period of phase 2 and overall phase 1 and 2 of the trial, pigs fed diets supplemented with the combination of Acitra and Entero-Nova additives had greater (P 0.05) ADG and ADFI and greater (P 0.05) BW on d 22 of trial. In phase 3 and 4, there was no significant improvement on growth performance of pigs fed diet only supplemented with 1 kg/MT of Entero-Nova comparing with the pigs in control groups. In conclusion, under current trial conditions, the combination of Acitra G20C and Entero-Nova 410C improved growth performance of nursery pigs in phase 1 and 2 when supplemented at tested dosage comparing with pigs in control groups without the additives.