Two studies were conducted with same set-up at a commercial facility to determine the effects of supplementing corn-SBM-based diets with or without a multi-enzyme on performance of nursery pigs.

A total of 240 piglets (per trial) weaned at 25 d of age were randomly assigned to the 12 pens (10 barrows and 10 gilts per pen) pre-assigned with one of the experimental diets: a drug-free control diet containing 3000 ppm Zn and 1000 FTU phytase/kg with or without a multi-enzyme (4,000 U of xylanase, 150 U of amylase, 150 U of β-glucanase and 3000 U of protease/kg feed, n = 6). The diets were fed for 6 wks in 2 growth phases (phase 1: 0–2 weeks; phase 2: 3–6 weeks). Feed intake (ADFI), body weight (BW), body weight gain (ADG) were recorded by phase. Data were analysed by MIXED procedure of SAS (9.4) and significance was declared at P < 0.05.

In phase 1, fecal scores were visually assessed daily by pen, ranging from 1 to 5 (1 = hard; 2 = firm; 3 = soft; 4 = very soft; 5 = watery feces). The frequency of diarrhea by pen were calculated by counting pigs with a diarrhea score of 3 or greater. In both trials, ADG during the first phase was improved by 30 (trial 1) or 40 g (trial 2) vs. control (P < 0.05). Final BW in piglets fed enzyme treatment was 1.4 (P < 0.05) or 1.2 kg (P > 0.05) heavier in trial 1 and 2, respectively vs. those fed the control diet. The ADFI was not affected by enzyme inclusion (P > 0.05). In addition, during the 1st phase, improvement in fecal condition (average 1.96 vs. 2.27; P < 0.05) and reduction in diarrhea incident (average 3.0 vs. 5.05%; P < 0.05) were observed in both trials when multi-enzyme treatment was fed to the piglets.