Productive and intestinal responses of nursery pigs supplemented with distillery vinasse

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the productive and intestinal response of nursery pigs supple-mented with distillery vinasse as a feed additive. The trial was conducted on a pig production farm in Orellana, Ecuador. A total of 80 pigs, 73 days of age, from a Yorkshire × Landrace × Duroc cross were randomly assigned to two treatments: a control group and a vinasse-supplemented group. The animals were housed in 16 pens, with five pigs per pen and eight pens per treatment. The experimental period lasted 40 days, and vinasse was administered daily at 1.5% of dry matter intake. Physicochemi-cal, health, productive, and intestinal histometric indicators were evaluated. The vinasse had character-istics compatible with its use as a feed additive. Animals receiving vinasse showed no enteric or pneu-monic disorders or cannibalism, unlike those in the control group, and exhibited greater weight gain (25.67 vs. 23.38 kg), higher average daily gain (641.75 vs. 584.50 g/day), and an improved feed con-version ratio (2.98 vs. 3.27). In addition, they had greater villus and crypt dimensions in the duodenum and ileum. Supplementation with distillery vinasse produced favorable effects on intestinal health and productive performance in nursery pigs.