Munkkila Research Farm, Finland, 2005

Progut^TM in the feeding of piglets. Trial conducted at Munkkila Research Farm, Finland, 2005

Objective

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of Progut^TM on piglet performance between 14 and 25kg in comparison with negative control.

Materials and Methods

The trial was conducted at Munkkila Research Farm, Finland (January-February 2005). At the beginning of the trial piglets from two commercial sow herds were randomly distributed into treatments by initial body weight and sex. There were 6 x 4 piglets per treatment. The average body weight at the beginning was 14kg. Feeds were distributed adlibitum and water was offered freely. A typical Finnish piglet starter feed was used throughout the trial. 0.3% Progut^TM was added to the feed and none was added to the control feed. All feeds were heat treated and pelleted. The trial period was three weeks.

Results

There were no differences between the analysed compositions of the feeds. The average daily gain and feed conversion ratio of Progut^TM fed piglets were remarkably better than control group piglets. This is in accordance with earlier results from Munkkila Research Farm (1996-2002) in which the addition of Progut^TM has resulted in 7-15% improvements in daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio in piglets.

	Control	SD	ProgutTM	SD
Initial weight, kg	14.3	1.3	14.0	0.7
End weight, kg	23.7	3.0	24.7	2.8
ADG, g/d	448		511
FCR, kg/kg	2.23		2.04

PERFORMANCE RESULTS OF PIGLETS, MUNKKILA, FINLAND 2005

Conclusions

In this trial, the addition of Progut^TM in piglet starter feed resulted in 14% improvement in average daily gain and 9% improvement in feed conversion ratio of piglets compared with negative control feed.