LAUSR

This study was conducted to determine the effects of a multi-species direct-fed microbial (DFM) product based on lactic acid bacteria and Bacillus subtilis on growth performance and carcass characteristics of grow-finish pigs. A total of 1,188 pigs (PIC 359 × 1050; initially 25.8 kg BW) were used in a 121-d growth trial with 27 pigs/pen and 22 pens/treatment. Pigs were allotted to treatments based on initial BW in a randomized complete block design. Treatments included a control diet and the control diet with added DFM (BiOWiSH Technologies Inc., Cincinnati, OH) included at 0.055% of the diet at the expense of corn. Diets were based on corn, distillers dried grains with solubles, and soybean meal and fed in four dietary phases. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model (PROC GLIMMIX, SAS®) with treatment as fixed effect, block as random effect, and pen as experimental unit. Overall (d 0 to 121), pigs fed the control diet had greater ADG (P < 0.05) and final BW (P < 0.001) compared to pigs fed the DFM diet (Table 1). There was no evidence for differences (P > 0.05) in ADFI or G:F between treatments. The difference in final BW resulted in heavier (P < 0.05) HCW in control pigs compared to DFM pigs, but no evidence for differences (P > 0.05) was observed in carcass yield, backfat, loin depth, and percentage lean between treatments. In conclusion, the inclusion of this multi-species DFM in growing-finishing diets reduced ADG in this commercial study. This response could be related to inclusion rate, feeding duration, or other factors not identified in this study, warranting further research to characterize the effects on pig performance.