Effect of probiotics supplementation of cassava-groundnut cake meal based diet on the performance, nutrient digestibility and haematology in starting pigs

In a 56 days feeding trial, eighteen starting pigs with initial body weight of 6.78 ± 0.5 kg were assigned randomly to 2 dietary treatment groups of nine pigs each (3 pens of 3 pigs each). Diet I was the control, which was not supplemented with probiotics, while Diet II was supplemented with 0.05% probiotics (probiotics contained Saccharomyces cerevisae and Lactobacillus sporogenes) into the control diet at the expense of wheat bran. Diets and water were offered on ad libitum basis. Starting pigs responded nonsignificantly (p> 0.05) to probiotics supplementation in body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed intake. Similarly, wet and dry matter faecal output, dry matter, crude protein and crude fat digestibilities, packed cell volume, erythrocytes and leukocytes values were not significantly influenced by probiotics supplementation, whereas crude ash digestibility was significantly (p = 0.03) improved by probiotics supplementation. It was concluded that probiotics has no pronounced effect on the growth rate and nutrient digestibility of starting pigs in a cassava-groundnut cake meal based diet, however beneficial effect could be expected in terms of mineral metabolism. Similarly, the health status of starting pigs is not adversely affected by probiotics supplementation of cassava-groundnut cake meal based diet.