Effect Of Herbal Additives On Growth Performance And Immune Function Of Growing Pigs

The herbs additive including more then ten kinds of herbs, which as mint,lonicera japonica leaf,isatis root,astragalus,coptis,radix aukladiae,ash bark and so on, was used to investigate the effects on growth performance, carcass,meat quality and immune function of finishing pigs.Two hundreds DLY (Duroc×Landrance×Yorkshire) crossbred finishing pigs were randomly assigned to 4 treatments, and every treatment had 4 replicates, every replicates contained 10 pigs. The treatments as control group, fed basal diets added with 50 mg/kg virginiamycin(50%); 0.5% group, fed basal diets added with 0.5% herbs additive; 1.0% group, fed basal diets added with 1.0% herbs additive; 1.5% group, fed basal diets added with 1.5% herbs additive. The experiment results as follow:(1) The nutrients digestibility and growth performance improved by added herbs additive to the basal diets. Added 1.0%,1.5% herbs additive to the basal diets than adding antibiotics, increased the apparent digestibility of GE by 0.41% 0.87%(P<0.05), and CP by 1.2%(P>0.05),5.30%(P<0.05), respectively.Also, Added0.5%,1.0%,1.5% herbs additive to the basal diets than adding antibiotics, ADG was raised by 1.74%(P>0.05),3.38%(P>0.05),12.37%(P<0.05),ADFI was increased by 1.56%(P<0.05),3.11%(P<0.05),10.51%(P<0.05); and the F/G was decreased by 0.33%,0.33%,1.64%, but there had no significantly differences.(2) Added herbs additive to diets improved the carcass trait and meat quality. Added 1.0%,1.5% herbs additive to the basal diets than adding antibiotics, the weight of carcass was increased by 0.84%(P>0.05),0.56%(P>0.05),3.58%(P<0.05); the muscle rate was improved 8.29%,10.14%,10.06%(P<0.05). And the average Backfat was decline by 8.96%,8.96%,8.46%(P<0.05); the Drip loss was decreased by 3.60%,7.48%,8.74%(P<0.05). Also the score of meat color and marbling were significantly improved by adding herbs additive.(3) Added herbs additive to diets improved the concentration of immune globulin,complements and thyroxine in the plasma of finishing pigs. Added 1.0%,1.5% herbs additive to the basal diets than adding antibiotics, the concentration of IgA in the plasma was increased by 3.37%(P>0.05),29.21 (P<0.05),32.58 (P<0.05); IgG was improved 12.99%,15.32%,18.44% respectively (P<0.05); IgM was increased by 19.64%,19.64%,26.79%(P<0.05). The concentration of C3 was raised by 16.67%,16.67%,25.00%(P<0.05); concentration of C4 was increased by 100%,120%,120%(P<0.05). Also the concentrations of thyroxine (including FT3 and FT4) in the plasma were significantly increased, FT3 was increased by 10.29%,13.24%,14.71% (P<0.05), and FT4 was improved 6.53%,7.60%,5.97%(P<0.05)。In conclusion, the herbs additive significantly improved the immune function,carcass trait,meat quality and growth performance of finishing pigs. And the practical effect of herbs additive was good at antibiotics in the finishing stage.