ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE January 2023 35 Similar changes have also been observed in the microbiome of chickens and horses when fed suitable seaweed blends (Sands et al, 2022). The beneficial impacts on the GI microbiome of the piglets in this trial were reflected in physiological performance improvements, as the piglets consuming the seaweed-containing diets tended to have improved feed intake and body weight gain, despite the reduced ZnO and Cu contents of the diets (Figure 2). A trial in an Asia-Pacific university facility looked at the effect on performance of adding either sub-therapeutic antibiotic growth promoters or OceanFeed™ Swine seaweed blend to standard diets fed to piglets weaned at 28 days of age (~10 kg LW). Over the 24day trial, both the antibiotic growth promoters and OceanFeed™ improved (P<0.05) daily gain and thus final liveweight (Table 1). Both also improved the visual diarrhoea index (P<0.05), indicating that the seaweed blend, by influencing the gut microbiome, can improve gut health and piglet performance. Figure 2. Shannon Entropy, Firmicutes:Bacteriodetes ratio, feed intake (g/d) and liveweight gain (g/d) of piglets fed a control diet or the control diet supplemented with OceanFeed™ Swine seaweed blend. Table 1. Start and final weights (kg), feed intake (g/d), gain (g/d), feed conversion ratio (g:g) and diarrhoea score (scale of 1-5, where 1 is good and 5 poor) of piglets fed control diets or these diets supplemented with antibiotics (AGP) or with OceanFeedTM Swine Start weight (kg) End weight (kg) Daily gain (g/d) Feed intake (g/d) FCR (g/g) Diarrhoea index (0-5) Control 10.1 23.2b 548b 952 1.74 2.82a +AGP 10.1 25.4a 637a 1058 1.66 2.13b +OceanFeed 10.2 25.4a 636a 1072 1.68 1.75b P-value >0.2 <0.01 <0.05 0.09 >0.2 <0.05
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