The effect of probiotic BioPlus 2B on growth performance, dry matter and nitrogen digestibility and slurry noxious gas emission in growing pigs

For this study, 2 experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary BioPlus 2B supplements on growing pigs. In experiment 1, 64 crossbred pigs (26.70 ± 0.50 kg) were subjected to a 35-day feeding trial (2 pigs/pen, 8 pens/treatment) in which the effects of the following four corn-soybean meal based dietary treatments were compared: 1) CON (basal diet); 2) B0.05 (basal diet + 0.05% BioPlus 2B); 3) B0.1 (basal diet + 0.1% BioPlus 2B) and 4) B0.2 (basal diet + 0.2% BioPlus 2B). During the experimental period, average daily gain (ADG) tended to increase in a linear fashion (P = 0.08) with increasing levels of dietary BioPlus 2B. In addition, the average daily feed intake (ADFI) was found to increase (P b 0.05) as the levels of BioPlus 2B increased. However, no linear or quadratic effects were observed in the gain:feed ratio (G:F) or in the coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) when dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) were considered. In experiment 2, 16 crossbred barrows (25.60 ± 0.10 kg) were randomly allotted to 1 of the 4 dietary treatments used in experiment 1 (1 pig/pen, 4 pens/treatment). The noxious gas emissions and pH of slurry waste were then measured daily for 120 h. Ammonia (NH3) emission from the slurry samples obtained from pigs in the BioPlus 2B ® groupswas lower than that of slurry obtained frompigs in theCON treatment (Pb 0.05), however, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) andmercaptan emission were not affected by supplementation with BioPlus 2B. In addition, the pH value decreased with time, and the pH values of slurry obtained from pigs subjected to the B0.1 and B0.2 treatments were lower than those of samples obtained from other groups after 48 h (P b 0.05). Taken together, these results indicate that supplementation with BioPlus 2B can reduce slurry NH3 emission, but not H2S and mercaptan emission in growing pigs without impacting growth performance. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keyword: Bacillus subtilis; Bacillus licheniformis; Digestibility; Growth performance; Noxious gas emission; Pig