The effect of supplementing microbial phytase and organic acids to a corn-soybean based diet fed to early-weaned pigs

The effect of microbial phytase (MP) and organic acids (OA) supplementation in diets for early-weaned pigs was investigated in an in vitro assay and a growth performance and digestibility trial involving 96 pigs (18 d old). The experimental diets were: 1) a control (C) formulated according to NRC (1998); 2) a negative control (NC) that was similar to diet C except that available P was reduced by 0.19%; 3) NC plus MP (500 U/kg); and 4) NC+MP and OA (NC+MPOA). In the in vitro assay, the four diets were incubated under simulated gut conditions. Addition of MP increased (P = 0.003) phytate hydrolysis from 34 (NC) to 87.5% (NC+MP); this was further increased to 90.1% due to the addition of OA (NC+MPOA). In the 4-wk growth trial, each diet was randomly assigned to six pens each with four pigs. At the end of wk 3, a mobility test was conducted on one pig randomly selected from each pen. Pigs fed the NC diet tended to have a lower (P = 0.06) mobility score compared with those fed the other diets. At the end of wk 4, six pigs per treatment were killed and samples of digesta from different sections of the gut and the third metatarsal bone were collected for nutrient digestibility and bone ash measurements, respectively. There were no differences in ADFI, ADG, and gain:feed ratio among treatments (P > 0.05); however, ADG was 6.5% higher in piglets fed the NC+MPOA diet compared with those fed the C diet. Bone ash content was lower (P = 0.003) in NC fed pigs than in those fed the other treatments. Supplementing NC with MP and MP+OA improved bone ash content to the same level as C. Apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of DM and CP did not differ (P > 0.10) among treatments and averaged 80.7 and 79.4%, respectively. Of all AA, only AID of isoleucine, histidine, and aspartic acid was increased (P < 0.05) by MP+OA supplementation. Overall, there were slight numerical improvements in AID of AA due to MP and OA supplementation, with AID of essential AA averaging 79.4, 77.7, 80.1, and 81.6% for C, NC, NC+MP, and NC+MPOA, respectively. The AID of P was increased (P = 0.0001) by 21 percentage units, and the amount of P excreted was decreased (P = 0.03) by 19.4% as a result of MP+OA supplementation compared with C. In conclusion, addition of MP and OA to pig starter diets improved P digestion and utilization, thereby leading to a reduction in P excretion. Addition of MP and OA to corn–soybean meal diets fed to young pigs had only a slight effect on ileal amino acid digestibilities.