Enhancing pigs’ appetite, provision of intestinal benefits and improvement of feed utilisation are three fundamental concepts attributed to improve pig health and productivity.

A range of products claim to achieve this, but therapeutic treatments aren’t always cause specific, and have side effects such as depleting the balance of gut bacterial populations. Many products including therapeutic antibiotic ‘treatments’ eliminate both pathogenic and beneficial bacteria species simultaneously, once the invasive organism has already crossed the boundary of the intestine and given rise to systemic infectious symptoms. Surely it is better to provide a diet inclusive of specialised feed additives, specifically designed to modify intestinal gut flora for improved health benefits of pigs, before the need for therapeutic treatment arises? Functional food technologies have already been used successfully in a range of species and this technology has now been applied to commercial pig production. Complete mechanisms of action of these natural products are now understood and have been trialled in commercial pig production facilities throughout the world.

The intracellular bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis affects the mucosal epithelium of the small intestine of the pig intestine causing haemorrhagic hypertrophy. Isospora suis is an intestinal coccidian parasite which causes clinical signs in piglets up to 14 days. The enterotoxigenic bacteria Escherichia coli causes’ piglet post-weaning diarrhoea syndrome (PWDS). These three pathogens represent a significant problem in pig production. Orego-Stim has proven efficacy as a natural feed additive to give interesting production benefits when included into pig diets.

Orego-Stim is a 100% natural feed additive which increases intestinal dimensions, villus height/crypt depth ratio and mucosal enzyme activity. Villus height/crypt depth ratio indicates digestion rate and mucosal enzymes play a role in digestion and intestinal function.

A trial at Seoul University, Republic of Korea used 54 day-old pigs randomly divided into 2 groups, 1kg Orego-Stim/kg bodyweight during the first 21 days in the starter feed and the untreated control. From 21 days until the end of the experiment (weaning period), the experimental group received 500g of Orego-Stim per tonne of feed. Three pigs from each group were taken for necropsy at days 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 of age. Intestinal lengths, weights, villus height/crypt depth ratio were calculated. Mucosal digestive enzymes were assayed for alkaline phosphatase, leucine aminopeptidase, maltase, sucrase and lactase.

Dimensional ratios of the experimental group were significantly (P>0.05) 30% higher than the control group during the 42 days of experiment. Over the duration of the experiment the Orego-Stim group had an 11, 17 and 20% greater villus height/crypt depth ratio and a 24, 19 and 12% greater mucosal enzyme activity than the control in the Duodenum, Jejunum and Ileum respectively. Digestive enzymes for protein, lipid and carbohydrate digestion were all found to increase in Orego-Stim fed groups. Increased surface areas for feed adsorption and improved digestive enzyme production explain how Orego-Stim improves pig nutrition, increases bodyweight gain and reduces feed conversion ratios.

Table 1. Average Digestive Enzyme production measured by optical density absorbance days 0-42