Botanicals for Pigs—Echinacea

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Echinacea, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. At the tested inclusion levels (0.1, 0.5 and 2.0%) no statistical advantage existed when compared with a positive control diet with 50 g/ton Mecadox or with a negative control containing no antibacterial inclusions. Echinacea-treated pigs exhibited a slight, but not objectionable, off-flavor compared with noninclusion levels. Higher levels of Echinacea inclusions may be required to enhance growth rate and feed efficiency swine production

Botanicals for Pigs—Peppermint

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Peppermint, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. Performance of pigs on all treatments was similar, including the positive and negative controls. At the tested inclusion levels (0, 0.5, 2.5, and 5.0%), no statistical advantage existed over the 5-week study when compared with a positive control diet with 50 g/ton Mecadox or with a negative control containing no antibacterial inclusions. Increasing levels of peppermint did not influence the muscle characteristics evaluated

Botanicals for Pigs—Goldenseal

Various botanical products have been suggested to have beneficial effects as a replacement for manmade chemotherapeutic and antibacterial agents. This study evaluated four levels of goldenseal (0.0 to 1.0%) compared with a control diet control diet containing Mecadox for nursery pigs. Although not performing to the level of the Mecadox control, pigs on the 0.25 and 1.00% goldenseal diets generally performed better than ones on the 0.00 and 0.05% goldenseal diets and were often not statistically different from the Mecadox control pigs. Increasing levels of goldenseal did not influence the muscle characteristics evaluated

Botanicals for Pigs—Garlic

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Garlic, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. At the tested inclusion levels (0.5, 2.5 and 5%) increasing levels of garlic generally depressed feed intake and average daily gain in nursery pigs and depressed performance compared with the positive control diet with Mecadox. Muscle samples from the garlic-fed pigs all had very objectionable or extremely objectionable off-flavors.

Botanicals as part of an integral value-added pork production system

Selected herbs are known to naturally possess antibacterial and other characteristics that could be useful in animal protein production. Inclusion of these herbs in animal feeds as alternative growth promotion and efficiency stimulants may be able to address some of the current concerns about the possibility of significant antibiotic-resistant bacteria development that stems from drugs currently used at subtherapeutic levels in animal production. Several herbs were tested for their ability to aid animal growth rates and feed efficiency without giving rise to antibiotic-resistant microbes

Botanicals for Pigs—Garlic

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Garlic, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. At the tested inclusion levels (0.5, 2.5 and 5%) increasing levels of garlic generally depressed feed intake and average daily gain in nursery pigs and depressed performance compared with the positive control diet with Mecadox. Muscle samples from the garlic-fed pigs all had very objectionable or extremely objectionable off-flavors. I</p

Botanicals for Pigs—Goldenseal

Various botanical products have been suggested to have beneficial effects as a replacement for manmade chemotherapeutic and antibacterial agents. This study evaluated four levels of goldenseal (0.0 to 1.0%) compared with a control diet control diet containing Mecadox for nursery pigs. Although not performing to the level of the Mecadox control, pigs on the 0.25 and 1.00% goldenseal diets generally performed better than ones on the 0.00 and 0.05% goldenseal diets and were often not statistically different from the Mecadox control pigs. Increasing levels of goldenseal did not influence the muscle characteristics evaluated.</p

Botanicals for Pigs—Echinacea

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Echinacea, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. At the tested inclusion levels (0.1, 0.5 and 2.0%) no statistical advantage existed when compared with a positive control diet with 50 g/ton Mecadox or with a negative control containing no antibacterial inclusions. Echinacea-treated pigs exhibited a slight, but not objectionable, off-flavor compared with noninclusion levels. Higher levels of Echinacea inclusions may be required to enhance growth rate and feed efficiency swine production.</p

Botanicals for Pigs—Peppermint

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Peppermint, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. Performance of pigs on all treatments was similar, including the positive and negative controls. At the tested inclusion levels (0, 0.5, 2.5, and 5.0%), no statistical advantage existed over the 5-week study when compared with a positive control diet with 50 g/ton Mecadox or with a negative control containing no antibacterial inclusions. Increasing levels of peppermint did not influence the muscle characteristics evaluated.</p

Botanicals as part of an integral value-added pork production system

Selected herbs are known to naturally possess antibacterial and other characteristics that could be useful in animal protein production. Inclusion of these herbs in animal feeds as alternative growth promotion and efficiency stimulants may be able to address some of the current concerns about the possibility of significant antibiotic-resistant bacteria development that stems from drugs currently used at subtherapeutic levels in animal production. Several herbs were tested for their ability to aid animal growth rates and feed efficiency without giving rise to antibiotic-resistant microbes.</p