With raising restrictions in the use of antimicrobials, pig production is being benefited by the the utilisaton of prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics. This article reviews the characteristics of these additives and their benefits on health and productivity of pigs.
In intensive pig farming, animals are often subjected to stressful situations (type of management, diet changes, etc.). That stress can cause an imbalanced intestinal ecosystem, which increases the risk of suffering infections.
In swine production, most stressful situations are related to the weaning and post-weaning periods (maternal separation, end of immunity transfer through the milk, change to a solid diet, transfer to a different facility, and mixing with unfamiliar pen mates). All these factors can negatively change the balance of the intestinal microflora and the immune response of the animals, leading to an increased susceptibility to intestinal disorders, enteric infections and diarrhea (Modesto et al., 2009).
The success of the weaning and post-weaning periods inevitably depends on the addition of metaphylactic antibiotics and other compounds such as ZnO to the diet. However, governments and stakeholders from around the world are indreasingy concerned about the excessive use of this type of medication. As a result, they have generated several strategies to cope with a drastic reduction in the inclusion of medicated premix in animal diets. Some of them include the utilisation of prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics in pig diets.
Stressful situations negatively affect the balance of the intestinal microflora and the immune response of the animals.
Probiotics
Some of strategies amntioned above include the use of probiotics. Such products are becoming a subject of research looking at reducing pathogen load in pig production. Although the ultimate aim is to control the occurrence of gastrointestinal conditions during the first stages of life, there are also projects researching probiotics in fattening pigs and breeding sows.
Probiotics are used in all the swine production phases.
Bacillus
B. licheniformis and B. subtilis have some immunomodulatory effect, which in part explain the improvements in diarrhea episodes during the post-weaning period.
A group of researchers from the University of Copenhagen (Larsen et al., 2014) identified several bacterial strains belonging to the genus Bacillus, isolated from soil, feces and fermented foods. The results indicate that these ...
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