Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii on weanling piglets performance in reduced medication

The wide use of antibiotics in both human and animal medicine has accelerated the appearance and propagation of resistant microorganisms. In addition, new results show that some of the antibiotic resistance genes increase in the intestinal tract of weaned piglets after two weeks of zinc oxide supplementation. Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SB) is a probiotic live yeast with proven positive effects on microbiota regulation, intestinal structure and natural defense. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of SB on post weaning piglets performance with or without removing antibiotics medication treatments and zinc oxide (ZnO). Two hundred and eighty eight piglets (21 d old, 6.52 kg ± 0.98) were allotted to 3 treatments and randomly allocated in groups of 9, with a total of 12 replicates per treatment. They followed a 3-phase feeding program: prestarter 0-11 d, starter 1 12-33 d, starter 2, 34-50 d. Treatments were: Control (C), basal diet with antibiotic and ZnO inclusion in the first two phases, and only antibiotic inclusion in the third phase; T1: C + 109 CFU/kg of SB; T2: basal diet with antibiotic and ZnO inclusion only in prestarter + 109 CFU/kg of SB during all the experimental period. Data were analyzed by a MIXED procedure of SAS for repeated measurements on pen basis. SB increased average daily gain (ADG) in T1 compared to C and T2 (P<0.01). When comparing the same diet (C vs. T1), an overall improvement of ADG (P<0.01) and a trend to improved feed conversion ratio (FCR; P<0.10) were observed in T1 (+5.59% and -4.97%, respectively). C vs. T2 comparison showed no significant differences in ADG and FCR, despite the removal of the medication for the last 39 days of experiment. The present study shows that Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079 can face the post weaning challenges, enhancing performance when added on top or playing a significant role in the nutritional strategies focused on medicated feeds reduction. Furthermore, SB is compatible with antibiotics and ZnO.