Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a proprietary blend of Microfused™ essential oils (Prosper EO™) on swine grow-finish performance. A total of 1,172 mixed sex pigs (PIC 337-sired; 24 pens per treatment, blocked by location) with an initial body weight of (37.65 kg) were randomly assigned to either a control (CON, N = 592) or ProsperEO™ treatment group (CON + 0.025% ProsperEO™, N = 580). A 6-phase feeding program utilizing corn-soybean meal-DDGS based diets was formulated to meet or exceed the nutrient requirements of the pigs (NRC, 2012). Pen weights and feeder measurements were collected every 21 days to calculate average pen BW, ADG, ADFI, and GF for the duration of the 105-d growing period. Data were analyzed using Proc GLM in SAS (SAS Stat. Inst., Cary, NC) to analyze for main effects of treatment. Differences were significant at P ≤ 0.05 and trends at 0.05 P ≤ 0.10. Pigs fed ProsperEO™ were heavier at marketing (137.48 vs 139.07 kg; P = 0.05) and had a tendency for improved ADG (0.89 vs 0.92 kg/d; P = 0.09) from d 84-105. Additionally, pigs fed ProsperEO™ had improved ADG over the entire grow-finish period (0.98 vs 1.00 kg/d; P = 0.04). Pigs fed ProsperEO™ had improved feed intake in the final weigh period (d 84-105; 3.04 vs 3.15 kg/d; P = 0.003) and over the entire grow-finish period (2.67 vs 2.71 kg/d; P = 0.05). Pigs fed ProsperEO™ had improved feed efficiency during d 0-21 (0.495 vs 0.505; P = 0.05), while showing a tendency for decreased efficiency during the subsequent 21d period (d 21-42; 0.422 vs 0.417; P = 0.06). Overall, ProsperEO™ supplementation improved market body weights and improved late finisher average daily gain and average daily feed intake.
Knapp et al. (Wed,) studied this question.