Effects of Dietary Bacillus-based Probiotic on Growth Performance, Nutrients Digestibility, Blood Characteristics and Fecal Noxious Gas Content in Finishing Pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation with bacillus-based probiotic (Bacillus subtilis, $1.0{\times}10^7CFU/g$; Bacillus coagulans, $2.0{\times}10^6CFU/g$ and Lactobacillus acidophilus, $5.0{\times}10^6CFU/g$) on finishing pigs growth performance, nutrients digestibility, blood characteristics and fecal noxious gas content and to determine the optimal addition level of this probiotic preparation. A total of forty eight pigs with an initial body weight (BW) of $90.60{\pm}2.94kg$ were allotted to three dietary treatments (four pigs per pen with four pens per treatment) according to a randomized complete block design. Dietary treatment included: 1) CON (basal diet); 2) BP1 (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.1%) and 3) BP2 (basal diet+bacillus-based probiotic 0.2%). The experiment lasted 6 weeks. Through the entire experimental period, ADG was improved by 11% (p0.05). Supplementation of bacillus-based probiotic did not affect either DM and N digestibilities or blood characteristics (p>0.05) of pigs. Fecal ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) measured at the end of experiment was reduced (p