PS10-14. The Effect of Varium® on Growth Performance, Gut Microbiome, and Health of Growing Pigs.

Abstract Varium® was developed as an alternative to antibiotic-growth-promoters, containing minerals, organic acids, and yeast specifically designed to improve gut health in production animals. The objective of this study was to test the effect of Varium on growth performance, gut microbiome, and the overall health of growing pigs. A total of 200 growing pigs (Duroc X [Landrace X Yorkshire], at 70 days old (25.39 ± 4 kg) were used in this experiment and separated between two treatments. The first treatment was the designated control (CON), with the growing pigs fed a standard diet without Varium. The second treatment (VAR) included the control diet supplemented with Varium at a dosage of 1kg per ton of feed. There were 4 replicates (pens) in each treatment with 25 pigs per pen. Basal diets were formulated in mash form to meet the recommendation of the farm. The feeding program consisted of Phase I from days 1 to 28 of the trial and Phase II from days 29 to 50. Body weight measurements were taken on days 1, 28, and 50 of the trial, while feed consumption was measured daily to analyze growth performance. Mortality and diarrhea incidence were also recorded daily. The experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design with data analyzed by GLM procedures of Minitab 17. Treatment differences were measured via the Tukey test with differences of P < 0.05 as significant. The results showed average daily gains in VAR were numerically higher than that of CON on day 1, 28, and 50 with 498 vs. 492; 841 vs. 796; 649 vs. 626 g, respectively (P > 0.05). Average feed intake slightly decreased in VAR compared to CON during these 3 periods with 1115 vs. 1115; 1844 vs. 1927; 1438 vs. 1480, respectively (P > 0.05). This resulted in numerically improved feed conversions in VAR during these periods with 2.236 vs. 2.328; 2.181 vs. 2.518; 2.209 vs. 2.379, respectively (P > 0.05). During the trial period disease incidence was lower in VAR than in CON from day 1-28 (14.2 to 15.6, P = 0.185), significantly lower from day 29-50 (2.0 to 6.5, P < 0.05), and significantly lower from day 1-50 (9.1 to 12.1, P < 0.05). Reductions in E. coli population (log 6.27 vs. 6.59, P = 0.174) and an increase in Lactobacillus population (log 9.09 vs. 8.95, P = 0.487) were observed numerically in VAR when compared to CON. When analyzing improvements in these key metrics, an 8.71% better economic return was seen in VAR than CON. In conclusion, the addition of Varium at 1 kg/MT in the diet of growing pigs tends to improve growth performance, promotes microbiome balance, and significantly reduces disease incidence throughout the growth phase.