THE EFFECTS OF THE PROBIOTIC USE ON

THE HEALTH AND GROWTH RATE OF

FATTENING PIGS

V. Juškienė, R. Leikus, G. Sudikas, R. Juška Institute of Animal Science,

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, LITHUANIA

II International Congress “Food Technology, Quality and Safety,

XVI International Symposium “Feed Technology” 28-30 October 2014, Novi Sad, Serbia

BACKGROUND

The increased interest in probiotic is essentially due to

the problem of microbial resistance to antibiotics.

Probiotics being considered an alternative means to reduce

pathogen infection and improve animal health and

production. However, their mechanism of action is not yet

fully understood.. Different probiotics contain different

microorganisms which may behave differently. Even

different strains of the same species may have different

metabolic activities which in turn effect the immune system

and growth results. Several studies related to probiotics

were performed on livestock and beneficial effects but

there is no undivided opinion regarding the use of

probiotics and there is still a need to clarify the probiotic

effectiveness in animals especially pigs.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to investigate the

effects of the probiotic (Bacillus licheniformis (DSM

5749) – 1.6

109 CFU/g and Bacillus subtilis (DSM

5750) – 1.6

109 CFU/g) use on health, growth rate, feed

intake and nutrient digestibility of fattening pigs.

MATHERIALS

AND

METHODS

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

xxxx

Groups No. of

pigs

Content of probiotic in

diets

g/t %

I 29 - -

II 29 400 0.04

III 29 600 0.06

COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS OF DIETS

Item Pig weight, kg

Item Pig weight, kg

35-55 Over 55 35-55 Over 55

Wheat, % 17.32 6 Analytical data/kg feed

Barley, % 61 58.35 Dry matter, kg 0.89 0.88

Triticale, % - 15 Metabolizable energy, MJ 12.7 12.3

Soybean meal, % 10.2 9.6 Crude protein, g 192.6 174.0

Soybeans, % 3 - Lysine, g 8.7 9.2

Fish meal, % 2 - Methionine, g 5.1 4.8

Rapeseed cake, % - 7 Threonine, g 5.4 6.4

Soybean oil, % 2 0.3 Fibre, g 35.6 49.4

Premix DB35-1/1, % 2.4 - Calcium, g 9.83 9.31

Premix „Unimix

Finishers“, % - 2.8 Phosphorus, g 5.23 7.03

Monocalcium

phosphate, % 0.82 0.65 Methionine-lysine ratio 0.59:1 0.52:1

Limestone, % 0.5 - 100 g protein containing

lysine, g 4.52 5.29

Binder of toxyne 0.2 0.2

„Mycofix“, % Energy-protein ratio 1:15.2 1:14.1

Organic acids add

„Genex SPG“, % 0.2 0.1 Energy-lysine ratio 1:0.69 1:0.75

Zincum oxyde, % 0.36 -

Animals. German Landrace and Norwegian Landrace crossbred pigs

analogues by age, weight, gender and condition.

Growth rate of pigs. Individual weighing at the start, every month and

at the end of the trial. The pigs were weighed before their feeding in the

morning.

Feed consumption. Feeds allotted for each separate pen were weighed

individually every day before feeding. The amount of given feed was

daily regulated to have no remains until the next feeding.

Chemical composition of feeds. The chemical composition and

nutritive value of the feeds were analyzed, according to the standard

methods (AOAC, 1990)

Feeds analysed for: dry matter, protein, fat, fibre, ash, organic

matter, nitrogen–free extracts, amino acids. Metabolizable energy was

calculated by the chemical composition of feeds and digestibility

coefficients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS (1)

Studies of nutrient digestibility. The studies were carried out by

in vivo classical method when the pigs reached 60-70 kg weight.

Three pigs (2 castrates and one gilt) were selected by the principle

of analogous from each group and placed into special individual

pens. The pre-experimental and experimental periods lasted for 6

and 5 days, respectively. Daily feeds given per each pig and faeces

were weighed every day. The feeds and places were analysed for

the contents of dry and organic matter, protein, fat, fibre, ash,

nitrogen–free extracts. Digestibility coefficients for individual

nutrients were calculated by the data of chemical analysis, i. e.

contents of nutrients received with feeds and excreted.

Statistical analyses. Statistical analyses were performed using

STATISTIC for Windows (Version 7; Stat Soft Inc. Tulsa, OK,

USA).

The differences were considered to be statistically significant at

P ≤ 0.05).

MATERIALS AND METHODS (2)

R E S U L T S

GROWTH RATE OF PIGS

Item

Groups

I (n=29) II (n=29) III (n=29)

M

SE M

SE M

SE

Weight of pigs, kg

At the start 35.48

1.348 35.93

1.193 36.97

1.055

At the 4 months of age 54.69

2.006 56.69

1.817 58.22

1.529

At the end 98.60

2.160 101.09

2.349 104.52

1.897

Average daily gain, g

At 3-4 months of age (first fattening stage)

662

34.553 716

29.990 733

23.590

At 4-6 months of age (second fattening stage)

979

21.201 1017

28.465 1052

25.025

During the trial 856

22.454 896

24.361 925

20.498

FEED CONSUMPTION

Item Groups

I (n=29) II (n=29) III (n=29)

Daily feed consumption per pig, kg

At 3-4 months of age (first fattening stage)

2.02 2.02 2.18

At 4-6 months of age (second fattening stage)

3.41 3.41 3.54

During the trial 2.87 2.86 3.00

Feed consumption per kg gain, kg

At 3-4 months of age (first fattening stage)

3.05 2.82 2.97

At 4-6 months of age (second fattening stage)

3.50 3.38 3.39

During the trial 3.37 3.20 3.26

NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY DATA, %

Item Groups

I (n=3) II (n=3) III (n=3)

Dry matter 81.17 80.60 79.10

Organic matter 83.20 83.17 82.33

Protein 78.13 77.67 76.63

Fat 62.97 66.13 58.00

Fibre 37.83 37.50 32.37

Nitrogen free extract 89.50 88.97 89.40

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicated that the pigs had the highest growth rate

when fed compound feed supplemented with 0.06 % probiotic. These

pigs gained daily on the average 7.5-10.7 % (P=0.027-0.096) more

weight than the control pigs. 0.04 % probiotic supplementation of pig

diets did not affect the growth rate.

The use of the probiotic resulted in 2.6-7.5 % lower feed

intake per kg gain. The daily intake of feed was almost similar both

at feeding pigs 0.04 % probiotic supplemented diets and probiotic-

free diets, however, supplementation of diets with 0.06 % probiotic,

resulted in 3.8-7.9 % more daily feed consumption.

Feeding probiotic supplemented diets had no significant

influence on nutrient digestibility.

Supplementation of the diets with 0.06 % probiotic had a

more favourable influence on pig health – there were no diarrhoea or

other ailment cases.

Institute of Animal Science,

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

E-mail Violeta@lgi.lt

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