Effects of a botanical feed additive blend of capsicum oleoresin, clove and garlic essential oils on growth performance and fecal dry matter in nursery pigs.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of a botanical-derived feed additive containing capsicum oleoresin, clove and garlic essential oils (CCG; Fytera Start, Selko, Indianapolis, IN) in nursery pigs fed with or without pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu. In Exp. 1756 pigs (Duroc × Landrace/Large White composite (Smithfield Premium Genetics), initially 7.8 ± 0.09 kg) were used in a 40-d study to determine the effects of CCG level on growth performance of nursery pigs fed pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu. In Exp. 2340 barrows (DNA 200 × 400, initially 6.1 ± 0.08 kg) were used in 38-d study to determine the effect of CCG in diets with or without pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu on growth performance and fecal dry matter (DM). For both experiments, pigs were randomly allotted to pens which were allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. There were 9 pigs per pen and 21 pens per treatment in Exp. 1 and 5 pigs per pen and 17 pens per treatment in Exp. 2. Dietary treatments in Exp. 1 were corn-soybean meal based with pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu and included either 0, 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg of CCG. Dietary treatments in Exp. 2 were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of CCG (none or 100 mg/kg) and nutritional or pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu. All Exp. 2 diets contained 110 mg/kg of Zn and 16.5 mg/kg of Cu from the trace mineral premix. For both experiments, pharmacological levels of Zn were added at 3,000 and 2,000 mg/kg in phase 1 and 2, respectively and Cu was added at 250 mg/kg in all phases. For Exp. 1, overall average daily gain (ADG) increased (linear, P < 0.05) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) tended to increase (linear, P < 0.10) as CCG increased from 0 to 100 mg/kg. For Exp. 2, there was a CCG × Zn/Cu interaction observed for overall ADG and ADFI (P < 0.05) where CCG numerically increased ADG and ADFI in pigs fed nutritional levels of Zn and Cu; but reduced ADG and ADFI in pigs fed pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu. There was a Zn/Cu × day interaction (P = 0.001) for fecal DM, in which there was no difference (P > 0.10) in fecal DM on d 10, but pigs fed pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu had lower (P < 0.001) fecal DM on d 21 compared to pigs fed nutritional levels of Zn and Cu. In summary, when included in diets with pharmacological levels of Zn and Cu, feeding increasing levels of CCG increased ADG in Exp. 1 but did not improve performance in Exp 2.