Enterococcus faecium supplementation in sows during gestation and lactation improves the performance of sucking piglets

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Enterococcus faecium DSM 7,134 supplementation on the performance of sows and their litters. A total of 15 primiparous sows (Landrace × Yorkshire) were randomly divided into three treatments with five replicates. Dietary treatments were: CON, basal diet; E1, CON + 0.025% E. faecium; E2, CON + 0.05% E. faecium. No significant differences were observed on body weight and feed intake of lactating sows with E. faecium supplementation, but linearly increased the sow apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N) and gross energy (GE; p