Effects of probiotics containing (Lactobacillus planetarium) and chlortetracycline on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microflora, diarrhea score and fecal gas emission in weanling pigs

Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotics (Lactobacillus planetarium) relative to chlortetracycline (CTC) supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbiota, fecal score and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs. A total of 135 weanling pigs with an average body weight of 6.61 kg and 28 ± 1 d of age were used in a 6-week feeding trial. The three treatments were (i) CON; control group, feeding with basal diet; (ii) CL; Control + 0.06% probiotic (1.2 × 109 cfu kg−1 of viable L. planetarium) (iii) AT; Control + 0.01% Antibiotic. The dietary supplementation with probiotic or CTC increased (P