By Ugwuoke, Jervas Ikechukwu
This study which lasted for 12 weeks investigated the effects of garlic and probiotics additives in the diets of grower pigs. A total of sixteen 16 weeks old grower pigs were randomly assigned to four treatments. Each treatment had 2 replicates of 2 pigs per replicate that were housed in a previously cleaned and disinfected pen measuring 3.2m x2.7m with concrete floor, feeding trough and water drinker. Four treatment diets (T1, T2, T3, and T4) were used in a 2x2 factorial arrangement in a Completely Randomized Design. T1 contained 0g garlic and 0g probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. T2 contained 50g of probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. T3 had 50g of garlic in a 50kg basal diet while T4 had 50g of garlic and 50g of probiotics in a 50kg basal diet. Pigs were fed 4% of their average body weight per pen and water was provided ad libitum, while other management principles were observed. The initial body weight (1BWkg), height at withers (HWcm), chest girth (CGcm), body flank (BFcm) and body length (BLcm) were measured and recorded at the beginning of the experiment and subsequently measured bi-weekly till the end of the experiment. At the end of the experiment, 2 pigs were randomly selected from each treatment for carcass, serum and hematological investigation. Blood samples were collected through the retro-bulbar plexus of the medial canthus of the eye of the pigs using syringes and needles and placed in micro tubes with Ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) as anti-coagulant.