Carbadox, formic acid and potato fibre as feed additives for growing pigs

Abstract

A growth trial was conducted on 160 pigs to evaluate the effect ofdifferent types of feed additives on performance. Thebarley-oats-soyabean meal-based diets were supplemented with eithercarbadox (0 or 50 mg/kg) or potato fibre (Povex, 0 or 20 g/kg) in thegrowing period, or with formic acid (0 or 8 g/kg, 85% v/w) throughoutthe trial. No interactions between the feed additives were observed.Both carbadox and formic acid improved, but potato fibre tended toimpair the performance of growing pigs (22-51 kg liveweight, LW). Formicacid did not affect the performance of the finishing pigs (51-102 kgLW). In the finishing period the pigs fed grower diets without carbadoxor formic acid compensated fully for their reduced performance. Theperformance of pigs fed grower diets with potato fibre remained poorerthan that of pigs fed without addition of fibre.