ISSUE FOCUS 36 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE January 2023 In a subsequent commercial North American trial, close to 1,000 piglets (21 day old, ~ 6 kg LW) were fed on either control diets including in-feed antibiotics and ZnO or test diets free from antibiotics and ZnO but supplemented with OceanFeed™ Swine seaweed blend. Over the 7-week trial both feed intake and daily gain were higher (P<0.05) with the OceanFeed™ supplemented diets (Table 2), with final weight improved (P<0.05) by almost 700 g, despite the lack of dietary antibiotics and ZnO. In a follow-up trial by the same North American commercial company, approximately 1,000 piglets (21-day weaning age, at ~ 7 kg initial LW) were again fed on either control diets including in-feed antibiotics and ZnO or test diets free from antibiotics and ZnO but supplemented with OceanFeed™ Swine seaweed blend. Over the 7-week trial neither feed intake nor daily gain were affected by removal of the dietary antibiotics and ZnO (Figure 3). However, visual diarrhoea score was improved from 4.9 to 3.6 and mortalities and removals were reduced from 2.2% to 1.3% with OceanFeed™. Both these trials indicate that, under commercial production conditions, appropriate seaweed blends can positively influence gut stability and help allow antibiotic growth promoters to be replaced without losing piglet performance. CONCLUSIONS Intensive swine production systems have, for many years, utilised in-feed antibiotics and theraTable 2. Feed intake (g/d), gain (g/d) and feed conversion ratio (g:g) of piglets fed control diets with antibiotic and high ZnO or antibiotic- and ZnO-free diets supplemented with OceanFeedTM Swine Feed intake (g/d) Daily gain (g/d) FCR (g/g) Control 695 478 1.45 OceanFeed 708 490 1.44 P-value <0.05 <0.05 NS Figure 3: Feed intake (g/d), gain (g/d), diarrhoea index (scale of 1-5, where 1 is good and 5 poor) and mortalities + removals (%) of piglets fed control diets with antibiotic and high ZnO or antibiotic- and ZnO-free diets supplemented with OceanFeed™ Swine.
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