Impact of zinc oxide, benzoic acid and probiotics on the performance and cecal microbiota of piglets

Table 1 Mean values of live weight, daily feed intake (DFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion rate (FCR) of weaning piglets supplemented with Zinc Oxide (ZnO), Benzoic acid plus probiotic (BA + P) and ZnO + BA + P according the phases

Phases	Treatment				CV %	p-value
Phases	Control	ZnO	Benzoic acid + Probiotic	ZnO + Benzoic acid + Probiotic	CV %	p-value
Pre starter I (23–28d)
Initial weight, kg	6.343	6.331	6.330	6.357	1.20	0.835
DFI, kg	0.212	0.223	0.228	0.221	25.61	0.932
ADG, kg	0.135	0.153	0.162	0.170	28.76	0.351
FCR	1.672^b	1.479^ab	1.419^a	1.418^a	12.87	0.017
Final weight, kg	7.290	7.406	7.465	7.403	5.81	0.831
Pre starter II (28–35d)
DFI, kg	0.410	0.454	0.465	0.430	13.36	0.183
ADG, kg	0.311	0.359	0.370	0.337	16.73	0.126
FCR	1.380	1.280	1.265	1.270	14.35	0.470
Final weight, kg	9.156	9.561	9.686	9.428	6.03	0.213
Starter I (35–49d)
DFI, kg	0.508^b	0.565^ab	0.606^a	0.550^ab	9.99	0.004
ADG, kg	0.281^b	0.369^a	0.373^a	0.367^a	12.34	< 0.001
FCR	1.834^b	1.540^a	1.640^a	1.498^a	10.98	< 0.001
Final weight, kg	11.968^b	13.253^a	13.421^a	13.100^a	6.02	< 0.001
Starter II (49–63d)
DFI, kg	0.983	1.042	1.063	1.037	7.69	0.158
ADG, kg	0.557	0.556	0.588	0.549	9.17	0.347
FCR	1.780	1.874	1.808	1.900	7.22	0.184
Final weight, kg	21.035^b	22.150^ab	22.841^a	21.935^ab	5.33	0.015
Total (23–63d)
DFI, kg	0.635^b	0.682^a	0.704^a	0.671^ab	6.18	0.007
ADG, kg	0.373^b	0.405^a	0.423^a	0.397^ab	7.44	0.006
FCR	1.711	1.683	1.664	1.681	5.31	0.703

^{a, b}Means with different letters correspond to significance by Tukey’s Test (P < 0.05)

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