Effect of probiotic and prebiotic upon the gain of weight, feed intake and diarrhoea occurrence in piglets at the suckling phase

Abstract

This study intended to assess the effect of probiotic and/or prebiotic added in sows feed on piglets weight (WE), feed intake (FI) and the percentage of diarrhoea (ID), during lactation. There were used 24 sows and 289 piglets, distributed in a completely randomized, with four treatments (T1 = control; T2 = addition of prebiotic; T3 = addition of probiotic; and T4 = addition of prebiotic + probiotic). From 0 to 14 days of age, the prebiotic addition increased the piglets weight gain. Meanwhile, in the period of 15 to 21 days, the piglets from treatments T3 and T4 showed better GP in comparison to the groups T1 and T2. From 0 to 7 days of life, control group piglets had higher incidence of diarrhoea (ID). The only probiotic addition received the lowest average cost in sow feed and the best economic efficiency.