Effects of dietary Bacillus-based probiotic on growth performance, nutrients digestibility, blood characteristics and fecal noxious gas content in finishing pigs

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation with bacillus-based probiotic (Bacillus subtilis, 1.0×107 CFU/g; Bacillus coagulons, 2.0×106 CFU/g and Lactobacillus acidophilus, 5.0×106 CFU/g) on finishing pigs growth performance, nutrients digestibility, blood characteristics and fecal noxious gas content and to determine the optimal addition level of this probiotic preparation. A total of forty eight pigs with an initial body weight (BW) of 90.60±2.94 kg were allotted to three dietary treatments (four pigs per pen with four pens per treatment) according to a randomized complete block design. Dietary treatment included: 1) CON (basal diet); 2) BPl (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.1%) and 3) BP2 (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.2%). The experiment lasted 6 weeks. Through the entire experimental period, ADG was improved by 11% (p<0.05) in pigs fed diets supplemented with 0.2% bacillus-based probiotic compared to pigs fed the basal diet. ADFI and gain/feed were not affected by the treatments (p>0.05). Supplementation of bacillus-based probiotic did not affect either DM and N digestibilities or blood characteristics (p>0.05) of.pigs. Fecal ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) measured at the end of experiment was reduced (p<0.05) when pigs were fed the diet with 0.2% bacillus-based probiotic. Fecal butyric acid concentration also decreased significantly (p<0.05) whereas acetic acid and propionic acid concentrations were not affected (p>0.05) when pigs were fed diets with added bacillus-based probiotic. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of bacillus-based probiotic can increase growth performance and decrease fecal noxious gas content concentration.