Evaluation of AviPlus on Growth Performance of Nursery and Growing-Finishing Pigs

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of AviPlus (a combination of micro-encapsulated sorbic and citric acids and synthetic thymol and vanillin botani­cals; Vetagro Inc., Chicago, IL) on growth performance during the wean-to-finish period in a commercial research environment. A total of 1,215 pigs (L337 × 1050; PIC, Hendersonville, TN) were used in a 156-d wean-to-finish experiment. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d of age and placed in pens based on initial body weight (BW) with 27 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design. During the 42-day nursery period, pigs were allotted to 1 of 2 treatments in an unbalanced treatment structure with 15 pens (replications) fed the control diet and 30 pens (replications) fed diets containing AviPlus at 6 lb/ton from d 0 to 21 and 2 lb/ton from d 21 to 42. On d 42, pigs were transported as intact pens from the nursery to the commer­cial finishing facility. During the finishing period 3 treatments were applied, which included: 1) pigs on the control diet in nursery remained on control diets; 2) 50% of pigs in nursery provided AviPlus were then fed 1 lb AviPlus throughout finishing; and 3) 50% of pigs in nursery provided AviPlus were then fed the control diet throughout finishing. All pens on finishing treatments 2 and 3 were allotted based on ending nursery BW to the finishing treatment. There were 15 replications per treatment in the finishing period. From d 0 to 21, pigs fed diets with AviPlus had a tendency for improved (P \u3c 0.058) F/G when compared to pigs fed the control diet; however, there was no evidence of difference (P \u3e 0.05) for ADG, ADFI, or d 21 BW. From d 21 to 42, there was no evidence of difference (P \u3e 0.05) for ADG, ADFI, or F/G. For the overall nursery period (d 0 to 42), pigs fed diets with AviPlus had improved (P \u3c 0.05) F/G when compared to pigs fed the control diet, but there was no evidence of differ­ence (P \u3e 0.05) for d 42 BW, ADG, or ADFI between treatments. From d 42 to 106, there was no evidence of difference (P \u3e 0.05) for ADG, ADFI, and F/G. However, from d 106 to 156, pigs fed diets containing AviPlus in both the nursery and finishing periods had decreased (P \u3c 0.05) ADG when compared to pigs fed the control diet and pigs receiving AviPlus only in the nursery, with no evidence of difference (P \u3e 0.05) for other growth responses. For the overall finishing period (d 42 to 156) and overall experimental period (d 0 to 156), there was no evidence of difference (P \u3e 0.05) for BW, ADG, ADFI, or F/G. For mortality and removals, there was no evidence of differ­ence (P \u3e 0.05) observed during the nursery, finishing or overall. In summary, providing AviPlus during the nursery phase improved early and overall nursery F/G, but there was no effect on overall wean-to-finish performance