Effects of Repaxol and Aciprol on Growth Performance of Weaned Pigs Challenged with Escherichia Coli K88

University of Nebraska 2007 Swine Report. A 28-day experiment was conducted to compare the effects of feeding RepaXol and Aciprol to weanling pigs in diets otherwise free of commonly used antibiotic growth promotants (AGPs). Pigs were fed experimental diets for 1 week, then challenged orally with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 in order to model the diarrhea and growth retardation commonly observed following weaning. Growth performance (average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed effi ciency) was monitored and analyzed for the periods between days 0 to 7 (Phase I), days 8 to 28 (Phase II) and days 0 to 28. In addition, bacterial shedding was quantifi ed and fecal scores were obtained on days 8, 14, and 28 (corresponding to days 1, 7, and 21 post-inoculation). There were no signifi cant effects of treatment on growth performance or fecal score over the length of this experiment. However, RepaXol fed pigs tended to shed greater amounts of ETEC K88 on day 1 following oral inoculation than pigs in all other treatment groups (P = 0.15). Taken together, these results indicate that pigs fed RepaXol may be afforded an advantage in the clearance of ETEC K88 from the gastrointestinal tract. The mechanism(s) by which RepaXol may affect ETEC K88 clearance will require further investigation. The level of enteric disease burden observed in this experiment does not allow for a complete assessment of the effects of RepaXol, the combination of RepaXol and Aciprol or zinc on growth performance, fecal shedding or fecal scores.