July 2, 2009

When toxin binder CarboVet is added to piglet feed, it results in better animal performance and reduced mortality, according to recent trials by Pancosma.

CarboVet is manufactured from a species of oak tree grown in France selected specifically for the pore size characteristics most suited to enterotoxin adsorption.

The trial on the litters of 130 sows took place on a commercial pig unit in Iwafune County, Japan, where piglet mortality in the region of 30 percent due to E. coli had become the norm.

It was shown that piglet growth rates were 12.3-percent higher over the first 34 days of life on creep and weaning feeds containing 0.5 percent of a charcoal-based toxin binder compared with a negative control. At 34 days of age, the piglets' average faecal dry matter was 31 percent in the treatment group and 22 percent the control group.

During the trial, diarrhoea was present in half the control and none of the treatment groups. Faecal content of the putrefactive compounds ammonia, indole, scatole and cresol was more than double in pigs on the treatment compared to control.

This indicates that these substances were trapped by the toxin binder, said Florence Rudeaux from Pancosma, thereby reducing the risk of digestive disorders caused by their detrimental impact on colonic fermentation and also the risk of respiratory disease.

The CarboVet mode of action is to trap toxins produced by E coli, clostridia and other enterobacteria, she said, adding that large pore size is particularly suitable for trapping big molecules like enterotoxins.

In a second trial on the same farm with piglets from 21 to 54 days of age, growth rates improved by a minimum of 33 percent and maximum 55 percent on different levels and types of toxin binder inclusion compared with a negative control. Mortality in the control and treatment groups respectively was 30 percent and either zero or 10 percent.