Gut Health – A continuous challenged eco-system.

The widespread use of antimicrobial agents in human and veterinary medicine has favoured the spread of resistance. In view of the transmission risk of highly antibiotic-resistant strains between animals and humans, controlling resistance is essential to safeguard the future efficacy of antimicrobial agents in veterinary as well as in human medicine. The ban on antibiotic growth promotors in the EU was a first step in the strategy to deal with antibiotic resistance. Today many countries in the EU, but also outside the EU-borders, are taking initiatives to reduce medication use in general and in animal feed in particular.

A piglet trial has been set-up on a good managed farm of 5000 sows. From an health point of view, the farm reflects very well the typical Italian situation with PRRS pos., mycoplasma pos., streptococcus suis pos., PCV2 + and Aujeszky neg animals. E. Coli diarrhea after weaning is not a major issue if medicated well.

The trial was set-up with 240 piglets, 2 repetitions, 3 treatments, 2 pens/treatment and 20 piglets/pen. The piglets are weaned at 24-26 days of age and the trial took place from weaning till 20 days after weaning.

A positive control (PC) was supplemented with the standard antibiotic cocktail consisting out of 500 ppm Amoxiciline, 120 ppm Colistine and 3000 ppm Znoxide. As the new legislation allowed only 1 single molecule policy, a negative control (NC) was supplemented with only 500 ppm Amoxiciline. Finally, the trial group (T) contains 500 ppm Amoxiciline combined with esterified butyrates and plant extracts (1 kg/MT).

In case of digestive upset, the animals are treated individually with Enrofloxacine for 2 consecutive days.

The performance data clearly demonstrated the positive effect of the antibiotic cocktail as the PC-group performed better compared to the NC-group (ADG of 206 g/day vs 156 g/day respectively). The trial group T performed equally with an average daily gain of 200 g/day.

The average number of individual treatments/trial day was 4,14 for the negative control. A significant improvement was noticed for the trial group (T) (1,55) and 0,45 for the positive control. The fecal scoring followed the same trend.

Well selected active ingredients like butyric acid and well-chosen botanical extracts, combined in an optimal blend have a clear potential to improve intestinal health, reduce intestinal disorders and eventually allow reduction of antibiotic growth promotors and in feed used antibiotics, while maintaining or even improving performance data.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.