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Bacillus coagulans could be used as a probiotic in piglet feeding since is suggested to promote intestinal health and maintain intestinal homeostasis. These are interesting effects for weaned piglets, particularly for the critical period they have to cope with. The performance of weaned piglets suffers from severe limitations resulting from diarrhea. Therefore, this trial was performed to investigate the effects of Bacillus coagulans as an alternative to antibiotics on piglet growth performance and intestinal health. For that purpose, ninety (initial body weight = 7.70 ± 0.17 kg, weaning age of 26 days) healthy weaned piglets were selected and randomized into three treatment groups. Pigs in the negative control group were fed a basal diet, pigs in the positive control group were fed the basal diet plus antibiotics, and pigs in the test group were fed the basal diet plus Bacillus coagulans at 600 g/t; the trial lasted for 28 days.
The results showed that the ratios of feed to gain of both the test group and positive control groups from 1 to 21 days were significantly lower, and the average daily weight gain of the test group from 22 to 28 days was significantly higher than that of the negative control group in terms of growth performance. The diarrhea index was lowest in the positive control group, followed by the test group, and highest in the negative control group. The test group had a lower diarrhea index at the later stage. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to measure the intestinal bacteria and it was found that the test group had a higher intestinal bacteria diversity than the negative control and positive control groups. The correlation analysis between growth performance and species revealed specific gut microorganisms responsible for variation in feed to gain ratio, average daily gain, and diarrhea index.
It is concluded that Bacillus coagulans changed the fecal microbial composition of weaned piglets, which had positive effects on growth performance and the diarrhea index.
Sun T, Miao H, Zhang C, Wang Y, Liu S, Jiao P, Li W, Li Y, Huang Z. Effect of dietary Bacillus coagulans on the performance and intestinal microbiota of weaned piglets. Animal. 2022; 16(7), 100561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2022.100561
