Dietary supplementation with microencapsulated organic acids and essential oils improves sow productivity and nursery pig performance under commercial field conditions

BACKGROUND: Organic acids (OA) and essential oils (EO) are used in swine diets to reduce diarrhea and support gut health. Although their benefits on growth and fecal microflora have been reported, data under commercial conditions especially involving both sows and nursery pigs remain limited. In this study, two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of microencapsulated organic acids and essential oils P(OA + EO) on sow productivity and nursery pig performance. The first experiment, 334 sows were divided into 2 groups: (1) Control group, (2) Treatment group fed diet supplemented with P(OA + EO) from 7 days before to 28 days after farrowing. The second experiment, 3065 nursery piglets were divided into 2 groups: (1) Control group allocated into phase I (28–49 days of age) and phase II (50–70 days of age), (2) Treatment group fed the same phase I diet supplemented with 2 kg/ton P(OA + EO), and phase II with 1 kg/ton P(OA + EO). RESULTS: Sows fed P(OA + EO) had significantly lower BCS and body fat losses compared with Control group. Percentage of sows with shoulder ulcer was lower in P(OA + EO) group. ADFI of sows in P(OA + EO) group was statistically higher than Control group. Number of pigs with diarrhea/litter, pre-weaning mortality, average weaned pigs/litter, average weaning weight/litter and average daily litter weight gain were all significantly improved by P(OA + EO). In the nursery pig experiment, ADFI and ADG were significantly higher, while FCR was significantly improved in P(OA + EO) group. At 28 days of age, total fecal bacterial population in P(OA + EO) group was significantly lower than Control group, whereas total fecal bacterial population, coliform, E. coli and Lactobacillus spp. were higher at 70 days. However, Lactobacillus spp./Total bacteria ratio (L/T) and Lactobacillus spp./Coliform ratio (L/C) were similar between treatment groups at 28, 49, and 70 days. CONCLUSION: Supplementation of P(OA + EO) during lactation yielded significant improvements in sow productivity and suckling performance of piglets. Extending supplementation of P(OA + EO) into nursery period revealed positive impacts on growth performance of weaned piglets. These improvements could be attributed to the positive effect of P(OA + EO) on feed intake, leading to increased nutrient assimilation.