Effect of the dietary supplementation of fructooligosaccharides and Bifidobacterium longum to early-weaned pigs on performance and fecal bacterial populations

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of administration of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and Bifidobacterium longum on growth performance and fecal bacterial populations in pigs weaned at 18 d of age. In exp. 1, two groups of 20 pigs each were fed diets containing 0 or 0.5% FOS for 21 d. On days 1 and 3, pigs receiving FOS were administered an oral dose of 10(10) B. longum cells. During week 1, average daily gain was higher and feed efficiency was improved (P < 0.05) in pigs fed FOS and bifidobacteria relative to the control. On day 7, supplemented pigs had reduced numbers of total anaerobes and clostridia, and increased numbers of bifidobacteria in faeces (P < 0.05). in exp. 2, 80 pigs were divided into four groups of 20 animals each in a 2 x 2 factorial design. Main effects included FOS supplementation (0 or 0.5% of diet) and B. longum supple mentation (0 or 10(7) cells per gram feed). FOS supplementation reduced growth while B. longum supplementation increased growth (P < 0.05). On days 12 and 19, serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) was reduced with FOS supplementation and increased with B. longum supplementation (P < 0.05). It was concluded that the continuous administration of bifidobacteria provided a beneficial effect on growth parameters studied in this experiment.