Dietary Bacillus spp. supplementation to both sow and progenies improved post-weaning growth rate, gut function, and reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokine production in weaners challenged with Escherichia coli K88

Table 1 Supplemental effect of mixed probiotics on reproduction performance and nutrient digestibility in sow¹

Items	CON	PRO	SEM²	P value
Number of sows	10	10	–	–
Parity	3.4	3.4	0.3	0.271
Litter size
Total born, head	11.5	11.9	0.5	0.367
Total alive, head	11.1	11.6	0.5	0.242
Stillbirth, head	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.075
Mummification, head	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.720
Survival rate³, %	94.44	97.80	1.68	0.635
Sow body weight, kg
Initial	209.1	222.1	8.0	0.591
Pre-farrowing	233.3	244.7	7.2	0.538
Post-farrowing	213.1	226.1	7.8	0.608
Weaning	194.6	208.8	7.5	0.545
BW change 1⁴	24.2	22.6	1.4	0.901
BW change 2⁴	20.1	18.7	1.0	0.824
BW change 3⁴	18.5^a	17.3^b	0.5	0.017
Backfat thickness, mm
Initial	19.5	18.9	0.4	0.466
Pre-farrowing	21.0	20.0	0.3	0.195
Post-farrowing	19.5	18.8	0.3	0.409
Weaning	17.4	16.8	0.4	0.714
BFT change 1⁵	1.5	1.1	0.2	0.622
BFT change 2⁵	1.5^a	1.2^b	0.1	0.056
BFT change 3⁵	2.1	2.0	0.3	0.563
Body condition score
Initial	2.9	3.0	0.1	0.306
Pre-farrowing	3.3	3.3	0.1	0.824
Post-farrowing	3.2	3.1	0.1	0.978
Weaning	2.8	2.8	0.2	0.987
Average daily feed intake, kg
Pregnant	2.58	2.59	0.02	0.476
Lactation	7.23	7.26	0.01	0.560
Estrus interval, d	4.5	4.3	0.4	0.939
Weaning, d 21
Dry matter	61.65^b	63.45^a	1.89	0.0003
Nitrogen	60.30^b	61.49^a	0.32	< 0.0001
Energy	61.49^b	62.85^a	0.30	< 0.0001

¹CON, Basal diet; TRT, Basal diet + 0.05% mixed probiotics
²Standard error of means
³Survival rate (at birth and weaning)
^4,5BW and BFT change: (1) Initial to pre-farrowing; (2) pre-farrowing to post-farrowing (3) post-farrowing to weaning
^a,bMeans in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05)

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