The control diet was based on corn-soybean meal and
experimental diets contained ESBM at 5, 10 or 15%
inclusions in the basal diet. During the trial, no antibiotics
were offered to weaned pigs via either feed or water. The
formulation of the diets is given in Table 1.
A total of 240 weaned piglets (Duroc×Landrace×
Yorkshire, 28 days old) with similar body weight
(9.01±0.22 kg body weight) were randomly allocated to
four treatments with 6 pens per treatment and 10 piglets per
pen. The temperature of the pig shed was 20 to 22°C and
the relative humidity was 50 to 70%. The pigs were fed ad
lib. and had free access to water. The body weight and feed
intake of pigs were measured weekly on pen basis. Diarrhea
was monitored daily throughout the experiment. This trial
was conducted for 28 days in accordance with laws and
regulations that control experiments and procedures in live
animals in China, as overseen by the Chinese Animal
Research Authority.
Sampling
On day 24 to 27, faeces per pen replicate were collected,
pooled and proportionally dried at 65°C for the
determination of the coefficient of total tract apparent
digestibility of nutrients using the method of TiO2indicator.
Care was taken during the collection of faeces samples to
avoid contamination from hairs and other foreign materials.
On day 28 of trial, following 8 hours of fasting, 6 pigs
with average body weights from each treatment (1 pig pe