Unlocking the power of Probiotics: success stories from Denmark and Brazil

In the dynamic world of animal production, one word is gaining considerable attention: probiotics. While the term may sound more at home in a health food store than a pig farm, the reality is that probiotics are revolutionizing the way pigs are raised, particularly in Europe.

What are Probiotics?

In simpler terms, they're the good bacteria that support digestive health and overall well-being. For pigs, this means improved resilience to enteric bacterial pathogens, enhanced nutrient absorption, and stronger immune systems.

Which actions are the most desirable one?

There are different options such as live yeast or bacteria. Some of them have wider spectrum than others. We have found that most successful strategies contained probiotics made of bacteria spores which:

• Produce antibacterial metabolites which breaks the membrane of the bacteria causing it’s death.
• Produce molecules which interfere with bacterial communication systems – this is called quorum quenching.
• Support the growth of beneficial bacteria – yes, not all bacteria are detrimental!
• All in all improves microbial diversity

Danish Experience- Almost 2000 small piglets say yes to an alternative diet:

The objective of this project was to evaluate a brand new diet for smaller piglets. This can be interesting for farms that can get two different feeds and feed the bottom 10-15% of the piglets differently. Alternatively, it could be useful for bigger companies with multiple farms which know the farms that consistently wean lighter piglets, they could use a diet like this one

Set up

• 1072 small piglets weaned at 25 days old were selected.
  • Control group 538 piglets at 4.2 kg
  • Treatment group 534 at 4.1 kg
  • No significant differences in weight at weaning weight (figure 1)
• Study was performed by TestPig at the Skjoldborg test station and diets were formulated by the Danish Pig Advisory Service.
• Control group had a diet with 3000ppm of Zinc oxide.
• Test group had a diet with lower energy and crude protein level (16.1% CP) and it was supplemented
  • Encapsulated Organic Acids and Nature Compound  4kg/t
  • Probiotic: Bacillus sp. PB6 750g/t
  • Organic acids via water
• Both Groups had 0.5% of Benzoic Acid and Calcium Formate
• All piglets were fed either the test or control diet for 14 days post weaning only, after 14 days they were moved to a different room and transition within the first 3 days to the regular diet for the farm.
• Feed intake, Average Daily Gain, Feed Conversion Rate, mortality, and treatments were recorded. On top of this the number of days where 1/3, 2/3 or 3/3 of the pen had diarrhoea.

Results:

• There was no significant difference on the days faecal consistency between the control group and the test group.
• No significant differences were observed in weights at weaning, 14 and 43 days post weaning. Figure 1
• Additionally, the Treatment group had a better Feed Conversion rate 1.51 in control vs 1.4 in test diet p<0.001. Figure 2
• Although the diet was fed only for 14 days it had a carry over effect reducing Feed conversion rate significantly proving that an alternative diet for small piglets is worth it. Figure 3
• To confirm the trial results were later evaluated in 3 farms with 400, 120 and 250 piglets with similar or better results than the original trial.

Figure 1 Weight at Weaning, 14- and 43-days post weaning

Brazilian Experience – successfully replacing antibiotic with probiotics in the post weaning phase.

In collaboration with Federal university of Lavras

Set up

• 240 weaned pigs at 23 days old with an average weaning weight of 6.7kg.
• 120 piglets were fed the control diet with antibiotics and 120 piglets the treatment diet with Bacillus sp. PB6

• Piglets were weighed at the end of each phase; feed consumption was monitored.
• Diarrhoea was also scored (1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest incidence)

Results

• The pre starter 1 phase is crucial as pigs just been weaned and we want them to be eating as soon as possible. We have noticed a significant increase in average daily gain (ADG, 19% p<0.01), a 12% improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR) p<0.05, and a higher feed intake 6% more p<0.05.
• A summary of the pre started phase 1 can be seen below

Figure 4: Average Daily Gain, Average Feed intake and FCR in phase 1

• For the whole nursery period there were no significant differences observed which is positive as we can replace a antibiotic therapy option with probiotics.
• In addition, the total cost of feeding a piglet with the control diet cost €11.97 and the probiotic alternative 11.85€ (at the time of the trial). Thus we can save 12 cents per pig in a sustainable way!

As the global demand for pork continues to rise, so does the need for sustainable and ethical farming practices. Probiotics offer a promising solution, promoting animal welfare while simultaneously benefiting the bottom line.