A Study on the Associated Effect of Probiotic and Citric Acid on the Performance of Pre-weaned Piglets

In a completely Randomized Design, 8 Sows along with their litter were divided into 4 groups (G1 to G4) such that each group contained about 17 piglets totalling 69. A basal diet (control) was fed to G1 and diets of G2, G3 and G4 were made by adding citric acid, probiotic and a combination of these two, respectively. Growth performance of piglets fed with citric acid and probiotic (G4) recorded higher (P<0.05) ADG (g) followed by G2, G3 and G1. FCR and weight gain were lowest and highest (P<0.05) for G2. ADG was less by 1.26, 1.04 and 1.08 times for G1, G2 and G3, respectively when compared to G4. ADFI (Kg) was more by 1.17, 1.13 and 1.07 times for G1, G2 and G3, respectively when compared to G4. It was concluded that pre-weaned piglets perform better with a combination of probiotic and citric acid rather than feeding these individually and the incidence of diarrhoea can also be reduced.