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In-feed antibiotics (AB) have been used as growth promoter but because of concerns about bacterial resistance to antibiotics, the use of AB as growth promoter has been banned in the European Union since 2006. Therefore, alternatives to in-feed AB are required. Among other feed additives, organic acids have been proposed as one of the alternatives. It has been reported that the dietary inclusion of organic acids can modulate intestinal microbiota and improved performance of pigs Published data on the effects of potassium formate (KF; pH 6.0–8.5) on pig performance are scarce compared with that of potassium diformate (KDF; pH 4.1–4.5). Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effects of KDF or KF supplementation on performance of 8- to 22-kg pigs.
The study was conducted at a commercial farm located in Segovia (Spain). A total of 144 pigs weaned at 28 d of age with initial BW of 7.9 ± 0.69 kg with 6 pigs (3 gilts and 3 barrows) per pen and 8 pens per treatment were used in a 35-d growth trial. Pigs were assigned to 3 diets based on corn (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and soybean (Glycine max) meal for each of the prestarter (days 1–14) and starter phases (days 15–35). The basal diet was supplemented with KDF at 1.20% or KF at 1.56% replacing corn starch to create diets 2 and 3, respectively, to provide a constant formate content. The diets contained no AB. Pig BW and pen feed disappearance were recorded at 7-d intervals to calculate ADG, ADFI, and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Fecal consistency score (0 = normal, 1 = slight diarrhea, 2 = moderate diarrhea, and 3 = severe diarrhea) and number of medications per pen were recorded daily.
The ADFI was not affected by the treatments in the prestarter, starter, or overall periods. The ADG and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected by the addition of KDF or KF during the prestarter phase. Addition of KDF or KF to the basal diet increased (P < 0.01) ADG and final BW and improved FCR (P < 0.05) during the starter and the overall 35-d period. Performance of pigs fed diets supplemented with KF and KDF were similar. Diarrhea incidences were observed during week 1 and about 30% of pigs required medications to treat diarrhea but no differences were observed (P > 0.05) among treatments in term of the number of antibiotic treatments or fecal consistency scores. Overall, the supplementation of 1.56% KF or 1.20% KDF improved performance of weaned pigs.
J.K. Htoo and J. Molares. Effects of dietary supplementation with two potassium formate sources on performance of 8- to 22-kg pigs. J ANIM SCI 2012, 90:346-349. doi: 10.2527/jas.53776