Effect of colistin and tylosin used as feed additives on the performance, diarrhea incidence, and immune response of nursery pigs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/1679-0359.2016v37n4p1947Keywords:
Antibiotics, Cell-mediated immunity, Growth promoters, Pigs, Weaning.Abstract
For the last several decades, antimicrobial compounds have been used as feed additives to promote piglet growth at weaning, through the prevention of subclinical and clinical disease. However, few studies have assessed the influence of these antibiotics on the immune response of nursery pigs, as well as the relation between performance, health, and immunity of animals that receive feed additives. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of colistin and tylosin when used as feed additives on the performance, incidence of diarrhea, and immune response of nursery pigs. In this study, 72 weaned pigs (average age, 28 days) were allotted into one of three treatment groups: a control group (feed with no antibiotics), tylosin group (feed containing 22 ppm tylosin), and colistin group (feed containing 20 ppm colistin). Weekly, during a five week period, the average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio of the pigs were evaluated. Stools were scored daily, in accordance with a fecal texture scale. Blood samples were collected on the day of housing (d0) and on d7, d21, d28, and d35 for immune cell phenotyping. The results of this study showed that piglets in both the colistin and tylosin groups exhibited a significantly higher average daily feed intake, resulting in a higher body weight at the end of the experimental period (d35) when compared with piglets from the control group. Colistin and tylosin also significantly reduced the incidence of diarrhea. Colistin and tylosin modulated the piglets’ immune responses, particularly on d28, by changing the percentage of circulating B lymphocytes, CD4+CD8+ T cells, and the CD4:CD8 ratio.Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Semina: Ciências Agrárias adopts the CC-BY-NC license for its publications, the copyright being held by the author, in cases of republication we recommend that authors indicate first publication in this journal.
This license allows you to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, remix, transform and develop the material, as long as it is not for commercial purposes. And due credit must be given to the creator.
The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their sole responsibility.
The magazine reserves the right to make normative, orthographic and grammatical changes to the originals in order to maintain the cultured standard of the language and the credibility of the vehicle. However, it will respect the writing style of the authors. Changes, corrections or suggestions of a conceptual nature will be sent to the authors when necessary.
