Effects of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Postbiotics Fed in the First Nursery Diet on the Performance of Weanling Pigs

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding 1,000 ppm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae postbiotics (CT; celluTEIN; Puretein Bioscience LLC, Minneapolis, MN, USA) in the first nursery diet on the performance of weanling pigs from d 0 to 72 post-weaning. Pigs (PIC 1050 X DNA 600; 3900 barrows and gilts) weighing 4.7 kg were weaned and sorted by sex. Five hundred-twenty of the largest and 520 of the smallest pigs of each sex were removed from the entire group, and 4 large and 4 small pigs from each sex group were then assigned to each pen. The small pigs were ear tagged. The remaining pigs were then randomly assigned to pens by sex. Each pen contained 30 pigs with 65 replications per treatment housed across 5 barns. Pens were assigned either the control (CON) or CT treatments in a completely randomized design. Phase 1 CON treatment was 2.7 kg of a standard commercial nursery diet, and the CT treatment was 2.7 kg of the same diet with 1,000 ppm of CT in place of ground corn. Pigs were then fed common nursery diets during the remainder of the experiment. Pigs and feed were weighed on d 0, 29, and 72. Statistical significance was determined at P ≤ 0.050 and tendencies declared between 0.050 P ≤ 0.100. Body weights of pigs were not different (P 0.100) across dietary treatments over the duration of the study. From d 0 to 72, mortality rates of pigs that remained in their original pens during the entire study were not different (2.5 vs 3.4%; P = 0.202) across dietary treatments, but the small pigs fed CT had lesser mortality rates (0.3 vs 2.2%; P = 0.010) than those fed CON. The removal rates of all pigs fed CT were lesser (2.5 vs 3.9%; P 0.001) than those fed CON. Of pigs removed, pigs fed CT tended to have lesser mortality rates (7.3 vs 26.3%; P = 0.069) than those fed CON. The overall mortality rates of pigs that died in pens or after removal fed CT were lesser in all pigs (2.7 vs 4.5%; P = 0.007) and small pigs (0.3 vs 2.6%; P = 0.003) than those fed CON. Injectable treatments were not different (P = 0.548) across dietary treatments. In conclusion, feeding 1,000 ppm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae postbiotics in the phase 1 nursery diet improved mortality rates in all pigs and the smallest 27% of the population by the greatest magnitude, but did not affect growth performance.