The effect of Bacillus licheniformis as direct-fed microbial product on growth performance, gastrointestinal disorders and microflora population in weaning piglets

Abstract

The direct-fed microbial (DFM) supplied as live bacteria represents an alternative to antibiotics for maintaining health and performance in weaning piglets. It was been recognized as probiotic products. Early weaning is a valuable model to get improved efficiency and economical profits in the modern intensive swine industry, but negative factors as diarrhea diminished feed intake, weight loss and gastrointestinal disturbances which can affect the piglet health functions with serious economic costs. To resolve postweaning complications, probiotics have been used as a good alternative for improving and modulate intestinal health by stimulating the growth of beneficial bacteria that compete with harmful bacteria or some desirable species. In this study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of two levels of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 21424 (BL) as DFM on performance growth, gastrointestinal (GI) and fecal microflora population, diarrhea incidence and pH evolution in weaning piglets. Our results indicate that BL-DFM has a probiotic potential and can be used as a possible antibiotics substitute to enhance growth rate, favored intestinal microflora, with a high reduction of piglets diarrhea incidence.