Effect of Hemicell® in Two Large Pen Trials

Two trials were recently conducted to determine Hemicell^®'s impact on performance under commercial circumstances. The first trial was conducted in Ohio with 880 early weaned piglets with 22 pigs per pen. Three diets were provided for 5, 7, and 9 days with lysine levels of 1.60, 1.44, and 1.37%, respectively. General performance is given on Table 1 and performance by phase of growth is given on Table 2.

Table 1 – Overall Performance of Early Weaned Pigs, 10-24 lbs
Treatment	ADG, kg/day	F/G	Mortality & Culling Rate, %	Polyflex Injections, n^*
Hemicell	0.303	1.189^a	7.56	3.67^a
Control	0.291	1.234^b	8.14	6.11^b
Difference	0.012	0.045	-0.58	-2.42
Improvement	4.1%	3.6%	7.12%	39.7%

* Polyflex is a trade-name for injectable Ampicillin. Veterinarians, monitoring the trial,
injected Polyflex into pigs showing signs of scouring. "n" is the average number
of injections per pen, which reflects the scouring incidence.

Table 2 – Effect of Hemicell^® on Piglet Performance at Different Phases of Growth
PHASE^*	I		II		III
Treatment	Control	Hemicell^®	Control	Hemicell^®	Control	Hemicell^®
ADG, g	179.3	188.9	326.9	331	313.2^a	333.7^b
F/G	0.996	1.017	1.166^b	1.128^a	1.441^b	1.364^a
Polyflex, n	3.21^b	1.88^a	2.23	1.58	0.67^b	0.23^a

*SBM 48% used in Phase I, II and III were 9.75, 21.6 and 24.8%, respectively.

As in other trials, these data demonstrated improvements in average daily gain and feed conversion. Of particular interest was the significant reduction in scouring incidence as measured by a reduction in ampicillin injections deemed necessary over the course of the study. This appeared to be independent of the stage of development and soybean meal content of the diets provided.

The second trial was conducted in North Carolina with 5,350 pigs and approximately 21 pigs per pen starting at about 40 lbs, finishing at market weights of about 250 lbs. Four commercial feeds were provided with Paylean at 4.5 g/ton 5 weeks prior to marketing. Results are given in Table 3.

Table 3 – Effect of Hemicell on Performance of Growing-Finishing Pigs
	ADFI (lb.)	ADG^* (lb)	F/G	Mortality (%)	Culls (%)
Hemicell^®	4.090^c	1.583^c	2.588	2.55^a	2.60^e
Control	3.898^d	1.532^d	2.540	3.34^b	6.44^f
Difference	0.192	0.051	0.048	-0.79	-3.84
Improvement	4.9%	3.3%	-1.8%	23.6%	59.6%

*corrected for culls; a-b: P<.10, c-d: P<.05, e-f: P<.001

This trial was conducted under hot summer conditions, so an increase in feed consumption was likely a benefit. Apart from the performance differences given, the experiment also showed a 0.45% increase in carcass yield (P=0.06). This study showed significant improvements in mortality and culling rate indicating a substantial economic benefit to using Hemicell^®.