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USDA researchers report enzyme is as effective as antibiotics in pigs
Story Date: 7/5/2013
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Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 7/4/13
USDA scientists are reporting that piglets fed with an enzyme instead of antibiotics performed as well as those fed with common antibiotics. Lysozyme, an enzyme that has antimicrobial properties, is found in the tears, saliva and mucus of both animals and humans.
Lysozyme appears to be a natural alternative to antibiotics, which for decades have been fed to pigs at subtherapeutic levels as growth promoters.
Physiologist William Oliver divided nearly 100 pigs into three groups that were fed varying diets: a diet that included granulated lysozyme; one with antibiotics; and a diet with neither antibiotics nor lysozyme. After two weeks the growth rate and the pathogen reduction of lysozyme- and antibiotic-fed pigs was similar.
Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., reported that pigs consuming lysozyme gained body weight at a comparable pace to those raised on antibiotics. Researchers also found that Campylobacter shedding in pigs fed antibiotics was only slightly lower than shedding in pigs fed with lysozyme-treated diets.
They reported that purified, granulated lysozyme in manufactured liquid diets may help reduce the presence of pathogens and improve the growth performance of 10-day-old pigs.
The findings were published in the Journal of Animal Science.
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