The Interactive Effects Among Diet Complexity, Zinc Oxide, and Feed Grade Antibiotic on Performance of Segregated Early-Weaned Pigs

Kansas State University Swine Research. A 27-d growth trial was conducted to evaluate the interactive effects among diet complexity, added zinc oxide, and feed grade antibiotic on growth performance of segregat- early-weaned (SEW) pigs. For the overall pigs fed the complex diets had improved ADG and ADFI, but not feed efficiency. Pigs fed diets with an antibiotic had better ADG and ADFI than did pigs fed diets without antibiotic, as was the case for those pigs fed zinc oxide. The complexity response was greatest in the first five-days after weaning but was significant for all time periods. The responses to zinc oxide occurred primarily during the first 10 d of the experiment, whereas the responses to antibiotic occurred the latter half of the growth trial. These data indicate that both zinc oxide and antibi- otic are beneficial in the diets of SEW pigs.