Effect of supplemental feeding of plum juice concentrateon fecal microbial shedding in growing-finishing Yorkshire pigs

J. C. Wicks, T. Jiang, T. K. Welch, M. Singh, W. F. Owsley, K. A. Cummins, C. L. Bratcher

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Yorkshire pigs (n = 32) were used to determine the effect of supplementing grower-finisher diets with plum juice concentrate (PJC) on microbial shedding in pig feces. Pigs were sorted by weight and sex (n = 16 barrows, n = 16 gilts) and assigned to pens with 2 pigs per pen. Pens were randomly allotted to 1 of the 4 diets: 0 (control), 0.5, 1.0, or 3.0% PJC. Fecal samples were collected from one pig per pen on d 0, 1, 7, 14, 28, and 56 and the last day on feed (group 1 = d 84; group 2 = d 98). The ham of each pig was swabbed at slaughter. Fecal and ham swab samples were plated and enumerated for anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli. On d 28, the diet supplemented with 1.0% PJC reduced (P < 0.05) anaerobic count compared with the 0.5% PJC diet. Supplementing 1.0% PJC in the diet decreased (P < 0.05) anaerobic count when comparing d 0 to the last day on feed. There was a quadratic trend between aerobic counts and days on feed, with the lowest (P < 0.05) count on d 14. Aerobic count was lower (P < 0.05) on the last day of feeding than on d 0. Salmonella spp. were not present in any sample throughout the experiment. In conclusion, supplementing PJC up to 3.0% had little effect on fecal microbial shedding in this study.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)260-265
Number of pages6
JournalProfessional Animal Scientist
Volume30
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2014

Keywords

  • Microbial shedding
  • Pig
  • Plum juice concentrate

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