Areewan Kittiwat, Yuthana Siriwathananukul, and Wanwisa Ngampongsai

pp. 291 - 299

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of additives (herbal formula PROVE 1 and antibiotic) and protein levels (20, 18 and 16%) on growth performance of growing pigs. A 2x3 factorial in completely randomized design was used in this study. Thirty six barrows with average weight of 23 kg were
separated into six groups (six replications for each treatment) and allotted for six dietary treatments comprising diets 1, 2 and 3 using antibiotic 0.20% + 20%, 18% and 16% crude protein, respectively and diets 4, 5 and 6 using PROVE 1 0.25% + 20%, 18% and 16% crude protein, respectively. The animals were raised in individual pens and fed ad libitum from 23-60 kg. The results showed no significant differences (P>0.05) in growth performance of pigs fed diets with antibiotic or PROVE 1 supplementation. However, pigs fed on diet with 20 % crude protein had significantly different (P<0.01) total feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed cost per weight gain than pigs fed on diet with 18 and 16% crude protein. Moreover, there was no significant (P> 0.05) interaction between additives and protein levels on pigs fed different diets. However,pigs fed on diet 1 and diet 4 tended to show total feed intake, dialy feed intake and feed conversion ratio slightly higher than pigs fed diets 2, 3, 5 and 6 and had a lower feed cost per weight gain than other diets.