2017•Animal Science JournalRequires access
Effects of composite antimicrobial peptide on growth performance and health in weaned piglets
Jiankai Shi, Pan Zhang, Meng Xu, Zhengfeng Fang, Yan Lin, Lianqiang Che, Bin Feng, Jian Li, Gang Li, De Wu, Shengyu Xu
Open publisher page 23 citations
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of composite antimicrobial peptide (CAP) on growth performance and health status in weaned piglets. Over 28 days, 36 weaned piglets (body weight, 10.58 ± 0.99 kg) underwent three treatments: negative control (NC, basal diet), positive control (PC, basal diet + 20 mg/kg colistin sulphate + 50 mg/kg kitasamycin), and CAP treatment (CAP, basal diet with 400 mg/kg CAP). Average daily gain of piglets fed the CAP diet was greater (P < 0.05) than that of piglets fed the PC or NC diet during days 1-7, 8-14 and 15-21. Diarrhea rates of piglets fed the CAP or PC diet were lower (P < 0.05) than those of NC-fed piglets during days 1-7. Apparent total tract digestibility for dry matter and crude ash in CAP-fed piglets was greater (P < 0.05) than that of NC-fed piglets. In the CAP group, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium counts were greater (P < 0.05) and Escherichia coli counts were lower (P < 0.05) than numbers for the NC group. Our results indicate that dietary CAP had beneficial effects on growth performance and health status in weaned piglets.