Feeding the blend of organic acids and medium chain fatty acids reduces the diarrhea in piglets orally challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88

A 3-wk experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the blend of organic acids (OAs) and medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) on the growth performance and diarrhea incidence in weanling pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88. Thirty weaned pigs (28 ± 1 d of age, 6.24 ± 0.36 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design experiment with 3 treatments, 5 replicate pens per treatment and 2 animals per pen. The treatments were: (1) control, basal diet (CON); (2) CON + 0.2% blend of OAs and MCFAs (BOM1); (3) CON + 0.4% blend of OAs and MCFAs (BOM2). From d 8 to 10, pigs were orally challenged with 5 mL enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88 (109 CFU/mL). Pigs fed the blend of OAs and MCFAs diets had greater (P < 0.05) body weight (BW) than pigs fed CON diet on d 7, 14 and 21 of the experiment. During pre- and post-challenge, the inclusion of the blend of OAs and MCFAs increased (P < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and gain to feed ratio (G:F) with the exception of G:F during d 8-14. Additionally, pigs fed BOM2 diet had higher (P < 0.05) final BW and ADG during d 1-21 than those fed BOM1 diet. Before challenge and post-challenge (d 8-14), incidence of diarrhea was lower (P < 0.05) in BOM1 and BOM2 treatments than that in CON treatment. However, diarrhea incidence was not affected by dietary treatments between d 15 and 21 (P > 0.05). Results indicated that dietary supplementation with the blend of OAs and MCFAs at 0.2% or 0.4% improved growth performance and reduced diarrhea as indicated by reduced diarrhea incidence in weanling piglets that orally challenged with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K88.