Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVI, Issue 1
Written by Sonya IVANOVA, Tanya NIKOLOVA, Albena DIMITROVA, Vasil PIRGOZLIEV
Essential oils are gaining more and more importance in the animal nutrition, due to their antimicrobial and immunostimulant properties. This experiment aimed to assess the effect of oregano essential oil (OEO) on feed intake growth performance, health and microbiological status of suckling piglets. A total of 71 piglets, originated from 8 sows, were randomly allocated to two treatments - control (C - 35 piglets) and experimental (OEO - 36 piglets). Sows from C group received an antibiotic-free diet, and sows from the OEO group - control diet + 0.500 g/kg feed OEO. Piglets from the OEO group were treated orally by 1 cm3/day by an emulsion of OEO from day 3 till day 14 of age and by 1 g/kg oregano powder added to creep feed from day 14 till day 35 of age. Application of OEO significantly increased sows’ feed intake during the third and fifth weeks of lactation (P<0.01). In general, the use of oregano emulsion and powder had no effect on the growth performance and health status of suckling pigs. No significant difference was found in the results of bacteriological tests for the isolation of E. coli and Salmonella spp. of rectal swab samples between the OEO and C groups.
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