Alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters for weanling pigs

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the addition of sodium butyrate, plant extracts and nucleotides on weanling pig performance, digestive content pH, organ morphometry, and intestinal epithelial histology. A total of 90 piglets at 21 days of age and an average initial weight of 6.35±0.34kg were used. The piglets were distributed in a randomized complete block design with five treatments, six replicates, and three animals per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of the following: Control: basal diet without antibiotic; Antibiotic: basal diet with 40mg kg-1 colistin sulfate and Additive: 1000, 1500 and 2000mg kg-1 of a combination of sodium butyrate + plant extracts + nucleotides. The experiment lasted 35 days, at which time one animal was slaughtered to assess pH of the digestive contents, morphometry of the organs and histology of the intestinal epithelium. No differences were found (P>0.05) in the performance, pH of the digestive contents, morphometry of the organs or histology of the intestinal epithelium by the analysis of orthogonal polynomials or contrasts. The combination of sodium butyrate, plant extracts and nucleotides not improved the productive characteristics of weanling pigs.