Protective Effects of Benzoic Acid, Bacillus Coagulans, and Oregano Oil on Intestinal Injury Caused by Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Weaned Piglets

Table 4

Effects of dietary benzoic acid, bacillus coagulans, and oregano oil combined supplementation on growth performance and diarrhoea of weaned piglets challenged with Escherichia coli.

Items	CON	ETEC	AT	AB	AO	ABO	SEM	P1	P2^†
1-21 d
ADFI (g)	407.50	405.59	444.32	486.36	477.14	484.82	12.42	0.963	0.178
ADG (g)	244.29	229.37	272.38	337.14	291.90	310.95	11.99	0.664	0.038
F/G	1.72	1.78	1.65	1.45	1.66	1.58	0.03	0.640	0.016
22-26 d
ADFI (g)	558.76	490.60	524.48	561.48	609.24	615.24	17.81	0.259	0.252
ADG (g)	292.00	224.00	274.00	306.00	352.00	356.00	14.43	0.181	0.046
F/G	1.95	2.37	2.01	1.86	1.74	1.76	0.08	0.237	0.131
Diarrhoea incidence (%)	0.00	44.00	24.00	8.00	8.00	4.00	3.58	<0.001	0.002
Diarrhoea percentage (%)	0.00	100.00	60.00	20.00	40.00	20.00	10.20	<0.001	0.054

ADFI: average daily feed intake; ADG: average daily weight gain; F/G: feed/gain.
In the same row, different superscript letters show significant difference among ETEC-challenged groups (p < 0.05).
P1 was used to determine the response to ETEC challenge, CON v. ETEC.
^†P2 was used to determine the response to benzoic acid, bacillus coagulans, and oregano oil combined supplementation among ETEC-challenged piglets.