Implementing drinking water feed additive strategies in post-weaning piglets, antibiotic reduction and performance impacts: case study

Juan Antonio Mesonero Escuredo; Yvonne van der Horst; John Carr; Dominiek Maes

doi:10.1186/s40813-016-0043-0

Implementing drinking water feed additive strategies in post-weaning piglets, antibiotic reduction and performance impacts: case study

Porcine Health Manag. 2016 Oct 16:2:25. doi: 10.1186/s40813-016-0043-0. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Juan Antonio Mesonero Escuredo¹, Yvonne van der Horst², John Carr³, Dominiek Maes⁴

Affiliations

¹ Resident European College of Porcine Health Management, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
² Nutreco BV, Trouw Nutrition Selko, Jellinghausstraat 24, Tilburg, P.O. Box 4217, 5004 JE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
³ Howells Veterinary Services, Easingwold, UK.
⁴ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Herd Health, Unit Porcine Health Management, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.

Abstract

Background: Piglets at weaning suffer many stressors such as sudden change of feed, change in group composition and the end of lactogenic immunity. These stressors may cause poor growth performance. There is a need for alternatives to support piglets during the weaning period. Organic acids are known to have a positive effect on performance through reducing the pH and their antimicrobial action.

Context & purpose: The purpose was to study the effect of the inclusion of a free and buffered organic acid blend in drinking water on performance of weaned pigs. Four-hundred and twenty pigs in a conventional herd were allocated after weaning to one of three treatments and monitored during 4 weeks: group (1) Full medication, group (2) organic acid blend + full medication, group (3) organic acid blend + reduced medication. Average daily gain, feed intake and water consumption was recorded at group level.

Results: During the overall study period live weight and average daily gain of the piglets was significantly higher (P <0.001) for treatment (3) compared to (1) and (2) (Table 1). Live weight was significantly higher for treatment (3) compared to (1) from week 2 of the study (Fig. 1). No significant differences were found for average daily feed intake. FCR for treatment (3) improved by 1.0 compared to treatment (1) in week 1 (P <0.05), while in week 2 and 3 no significant differences were found (Table 2). Overall, FCR was with 0.3 difference significantly lower (P = 0.001) for treatment (3) than for (1) and (2) (Table 1). Pigs receiving organic acids in drinking water had significantly (P <0.05) higher water consumption than group (1) in weeks 3 and 4 (Table 2).

Conclusion & potential implications: The use of a blend of free and buffered organic acids together with a reduced medication program improves growth performance during the first month after weaning compared to a control with full medication and a combination between organic acids and full medication. This implies that organic acids could be used as a valid alternative for antibiotic reduction in post-weaning pigs. The treatment also increased the drinking water intake.

Keywords: Additives; Antibiotic reduction; Drinking water; Nursery; Organic acids; Performance; Piglets; Post-weaning period.