Orego-Stim Supports Performance & Gut Health in Pigs Challenged with Ileitis

Background

• Orego-Stim® is a high quality plant based eubioitic containing 100% natural oregano oil.

• Ileitis is frequently managed in pig herds with a combination of vaccination and antibiotic treatments.

Trial Design

Anpario commissioned an ileitis challenge trial at SSUI in the USA to evaluate Orego-Stim alongside current vaccination treatment. 96 (LW x LR) x terminal sire piglets were enrolled onto the study at approx. 28 days of age (weaned at 21 days of age and fed standard starter diet for 1 week) and randomly allocated (based on gender and body weight) to one of three dietary treatments. Control, no additives; OS1, Orego-Stim included at 0.5kg/tonne throughout; OS2, Orego-Stim included at 1.0kg/tonne throughout. All pigs were given Enterisol® Ileitis vaccine (Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Georgia, USA) at 6 weeks of age (Day 14), and at 9 weeks of age (day 35) all pigs were challenged orally with ~1x109 CFU/ml Lawsonia intracellularis.

• Orego-Stim numerically improved average daily gain following ileitis challenge (days 35-67) at both inclusion levels compared to the control group (Fig. 1).

• This improved weight gain would likely be due to optimised gut health, with lower lesion scores.
  

• Feeding Orego-Stim also significantly reduced the risk of abnormal faecal scores (scores of 2 or higher) (p<0.001) compared with the control (Fig.2).

• While gut health was numerically best in the group fed Orego-Stim at 1.0kg/tonne, the best margin over feed cost for the three treatments was associated with the Orego-Stim (0.5kg/tonne) group as a result of the lower input costs and slightly better FCR. This gave a 9% improvement over the control treatment.