Yeast Probiotic Supplementation in Nursery Pigs in a Challenged Environment

Abstract

The poor intestinal health, due to many stress factors during weaning, reduces growth and development while in the nursery. With sub-therapeutic antibiotics no longer an option to combat this challenge, probiotics are considered one way to increase gastrointestinal health and promote growth. A 2 x 2 factorial designed experiment looking at dietary intervention with a probiotic and a non-challenge or challenge environment was completed. One hundred and sixty piglets were blocked by weight and sex and randomly assigned to either control diet or supplemented diet in a clean or dirty nursery setting. We hypothesize the piglets with the probiotic in their diet will perform higher in both environments in terms of growth, feed efficiency, and combating illness.