Effects of yeast, essential oils, increased zinc oxide and copper sulfate, or their combination in nursery diets on pig performance

Abstract

Two experiments evaluated the effects of feeding growth promoting alternatives, alone or in combination, on nursery pig performance in comparison to a common feed additive, carbadox. In Exp.1, 288 weaned pigs (Line 600 × 241; DNA, 5.36 kg) were used in a 42-d study. Pigs were allotted to 1 of 9 dietary treatments in pens of 4 at weaning in a randomized complete block design with 8 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged with a negative control diet with no dietary feed additive, a positive control with added carbadox or 7 treatments including added copper sulfate (CuSO₄; 0 vs. 125 ppm Cu) and added zinc oxide (ZnO; 0 vs. 3,000 ppm Zn from d 0 to 7 and 2,000 ppm Zn from d 7 to 28), essential oils from XTRACT 6930 at 0.91 kg/ton, Safman (yeast cell walls) at 0.23 kg/ton , Biosaf HR (yeast cells) at 0.68 kg/ton. These supplements were fed alone or in combination. From d 0 to 7 experimental diets were a pelleted diet and fed in a meal form from d 7 to 28, followed by a common corn-soybean meal-based diet from d 28 to 42. Essential oil blend (cinnamaldehyde) and yeast had no (P > 0.05) effect on ADG. Feeding carbadox or added trace minerals (Cu and Zn) improved ADG (P < 0.05) of nursery pigs compared to the control. Carryover effects from any of these dietary treatments on subsequent growth performance were not (P > 0.05) different. The use of added trace minerals Cu and Zn alone or in conjunction with either yeast or essential oil blend (cinnamaldehyde) results in ADG and G/F comparable to carbadox. In Exp. 2, 280 weaned pigs (Line 600 × 241; DNA, 5.18 kg) were used in a 35-d study. Pigs were allotted to 1 of 7 dietary treatments in pens of 5 at weaning in a randomized complete block design with 8 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged with a negative control diet with no dietary feed additive, a positive control with added carbadox or 5 treatments including added copper sulfate (CuSO₄; 0 vs. 125 ppm Cu) and added zinc oxide (ZnO; 0 vs. 3,000 ppm Zn from d 0 to 7 and 2,000 ppm Zn from d 7 to 35), and Victus® LIV (145 or 435 ppm). These supplements were fed alone or in combination (Cu/Zn and 145 ppm Victus® LIV or Cu/Zn and 435 ppm Victus® LIV. Diets were fed in meal form. Feeding carbadox, 145 ppm Victus® LIV or added trace minerals (Cu and Zn) improved ADG (P < 0.05) of nursery pigs compared to the control. In summary, under the conditions of these experiments, pigs fed zinc/copper, 145 ppm Victus® LIV or a combination of these had similar (P > 0.05) growth performance to pigs fed carbadox.