Effects of Fermentation Compound Herbal Medicine on Production Performance and Immune Function of Weaned Piglets

The feed additive was composed of six Chinese Herbal (CH) (including Poria, Astragalus, Cork, Orange peel, Hawthorn and Radix), which were fermented by Lactobacillus and used as a feed additive for piglets basal diet. Similar to group of antibiotic and herbal medicine, fermented herbal medicine was additived to basic diet in four trials with eight replications per trial, determining effect on the growth performance, biochemical and immunological indicators. Compared with the control group, the group of fermented herbal compound had higher Average Daily Gain (ADG), higher content of immune globulin M (IgM) and immune globulin A (IgA) (p<0.05). There was no significant effect on the indicators of ADG, Average Daily Feed Intake (ADFI) and diarrhea rate (p>0.05) between groups of antibiotic and fermented herbal were observed; however, the concentrations of Total Protein (TP), Growth Hormone (GH), IgG, IgM and IgA significantly increased (p<0.05) compared with the control group.