Differential responses of weaned piglets to supplemental porcine or chicken plasma in diets without inclusion of antibiotics and zinc oxide

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the effects of spray-dried porcine plasma protein (SDPP) or spray-dried chicken plasma protein (SDCP) supplementation in diets without the inclusion of antibiotics and zinc oxide (ZnO) on growth performance, fecal score, and fecal microbiota in early-weaned piglets. A total of 192 healthy weaning piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 21 d old) were blocked by BW (6.53 ± 0.60 kg) and randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments: negative control (NC, basal diet), positive control (PC), basal diet + ZnO at 2 g/kg and antibiotics at 0.8 g/kg), SDPP (containing 5% SDPP), and SDCP (containing 5% SDCP). The experiment lasted 14 d. The SDPP group had higher (P