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Tropentag, October 5 - 7, 2004 in Berlin
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Use of Citric Acid and Clove Oil as Supplement in Weanling Pig Diets
Wandee Tartrakoon, Sangdeun Juipetch, Surapee Thonglom
Chiang Mai University, Department of Animal Science, Thailand
Abstract
This experiment was conducted at Chiang Mai University, Thailand to determine the effect of supplementing citric acid (CA) and clove oil (CO) as feed additives in weanling pig diets. Thirty-six, 21-day old weanling pigs weighing 7 ± 0.5 kg were randomly divided into four groups of nine animals each and used in a completely randomised design. Each group was allocated to one of four dietary treatments: 1. Control basal diet containing corn-soybean meal; 2. Basal diet supplemented CA at 2 g kg-1 diet; 3. Basal diet supplemented with CO at 2.5 ml kg-1; 4. Basal diet supplemented with CA+CO at 2 g + 2.5 ml kg-1; respectively. Diets were formulated to meet NRC (1998) standards. Each weanling pig was housed in an individual pen for the experimental duration. The growth performance and faecal characteristics were measured for 35 days. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the pigs were: 690, 668, 618, 635 and 344, 385, 341, 347 g d-1 and 2.05, 1.74, 1.83 and 1.89 on diets 1 to 4, respectively. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in ADFI and ADG among treatments. The pigs on the diet supplemented with CA, CO and CA+CO tended to have better FCR than the control group. Pigs on the diet supplemented with CA had a significantly (P<0.05) lower FCR than the control group. The faecal score for colour on the pigs fed diet 4 was significantly (P<0.05) better than the control group and also the pigs in this group had the lowest diarrhoea incidence. The results suggest that CA can be included at 2 g kg-1 in weanling pig diets.
Keywords: Citric acid, clove oil, weanling pig
Contact Address: Wandee Tartrakoon, Chiang Mai University, Department of Animal Science, Huay Kaew Road, 50200 Chiang Mai, Thailand, e-mail: twandee
chiangmai.ac.th
