Effects of garlic (Allium sativum L.) in postweaning pigs – a placebo controlled study

Summary

Postweaning diarrhoea (PWD) is one of the most serious problems in pig production, leading to a high antimicrobial use.
Preventive oral administration of Allium sativum L. (AS, garlic) represents an option to reduce antimicrobial medication by improving health and performance in postweaning pigs. A trial was conducted on a commercial Swiss farm [1]. Six-hundred piglets were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. For the first two weeks post weaning, the piglets received orally 0.3 g dried AS-powder/kg body weight/day, 6 mg colistin-sulphate/kg body weight /day or a placebo (PL). Piglets were observed until the end of the third week post weaning. For the time of the study, daily weight gain (DWG) was measured weekly on individual basis. Data were analysed using generalized mixed effect models.
DWG of placebo-treated piglets was significantly lower compared to AS (61 g; p=0.008) and colistin-treated piglets (61 g; p=0.001) on the third week post weaning [Fig. 1]. Due to severe diarrhoea, three out of nine (33%) of AS and the placebo pens were treated with antibiotics. In conclusion, oral administration of dried AS-powder does not prevent severe PWD but improves the growing performance compared to placebo. Thus, AS contributes to limiting the use of antimicrobials to strictly therapeutic indications.