Effects of sorbitol or an antimicrobial agent on performance, diarrhea, feed digestibility, and organ weight of weanling pigs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate growth performance, incidence of diarrhea, apparent digestibility of nutrients and energy, and organ weight in weanling pigs fed diets with graded levels of sorbitol (C6H14O6) or antimicrobial growth promoter (chlorhydroxyquinoline). One hundred and twenty weanling pigs (6.22±0.28 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design with 5 treatments, 8 replications, and 3 pigs per pen. The treatments were diets containing 0 (basal), 1.0, 1.5, and 2% sorbitol, and the basal diet with 120 ppm of chlorhydroxyquinoline. Increasing dietary sorbitol levels reduced linearly body weight (BW) at d 27 of experiment (R2=0.64; P=0.019), whereas no effects of the dietary sorbitol levels were observed on growth performance during the periods of 1 to 6, 6 to 13, 27 to 40, and 1 to 40 d of experiment. Antimicrobial reduced (P<0.001) BW and gain to feed ratio (P≤0.031), from 13 to 27, 27 to 40, and 1 to 40 d, with no effect on average daily feed intake. No effects of sorbitol or antimicrobial were observed on the incidence of diarrhea, apparent digestibility, and organ weights. Results indicated that sorbitol would not appear to have the properties of a prebiotic to improve growth performance. Overall, dietary sorbitol added up to 2% in complex weanling pig diets did not affect growth performance, incidence of diarrhea, apparent digestibility of nutrients, and organ weight, whereas the antimicrobial agent, chlorhydroxyquinoline, adversely affected growth performance.