Effects of dietary supplementation with antimicrobial peptide‐P5 on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility, faecal and intestinal microflora and intestinal morphology of weanling pigs

Abstract BACKGROUND: The increase in drug‐resistant bacteria and the ban on antibiotic growth promoters worldwide make the search for novel means of preventing bacterial infection and promoting growth performance imperative. In this sense, antimicrobial peptides are thought to be ideal candidates owing to their antimicrobial properties, broad spectrum of activity and low propensity for development of bacterial resistance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with antimicrobial peptide‐P5 (AMP‐P5) on weanling pig nutrition. RESULTS: A total of 240 weanling pigs were allotted to four treatments on the basis of initial body weight. There were four replicates in each treatment, with 15 pigs per replicate. Dietary treatments were negative control (NC, basal diet without antimicrobial), positive control (PC, basal diet + 1.5 g kg −1 apramycin), basal diet with 40 mg kg −1 AMP‐P5 (P5‐40) and basal diet with 60 mg kg −1 AMP‐P5 (P5‐60). Pigs fed the PC or P5‐60 diet showed improved ( P < 0.05) overall growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and gross energy and reduced ( P < 0.05) faecal and intestinal coliforms compared with pigs fed the NC diet. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this study indicate that dietary supplementation with 60 mg kg −1 AMP‐P5 has the potential to improve the growth performance and apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients and reduce coliforms in weanling pigs. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry