Oregano oil as an alternative to antimicrobials in nursery diets

Materials and methods: In Experiment One, 180 seventeen-day-old YorkshireLandrace pigs were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments, including an unsupplemented, unmedicated basal diet (Control) and the basal diet supplemented with either 55 g per tonne carbadox (Phibro Animal Health, Ridgefield Park, New Jersey) or 1.5 kg per tonne oregano oil (Van Beek Scientific, Orange City, Iowa). In Experiment Two, 160 twenty-one-dayold Yorkshire-Landrace pigs were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments, including an unsupplemented, unmedicated basal diet (Control) and the basal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 kg per tonne oregano oil. Growth parameters were assessed during a 35-day period in each experiment.