THE VALUE OF CARBADOX (METHYL 3-2 QUINOXALINY – LMETHYLENE) CARBAZATE N1, N4DIOXIDE) IN THE DIETS OF WEANER PIGS IN THE HUMID TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out with 108 weaner pigs of the large White and Large X Landrace breeds, to determine the effects of feeding graded levels of Carbadox (Mecadox), a relatively new synthetic feed medicant with bactericidal and growth promotion properties, to weaner pigs on their levels of performance and their nutrient utilization abilities in the hot humid tropical environment. Two management conditions, a clean and an untidy conditions were tried. The basal diet was a 19% crude protein diet to which were added 0.0, 10.0, 25.0 and 50.0ppm levels of Carbadox to give a total of our diets which were fed either individually or in groups to the piglets within each of the four treatment group. Digestibility trial was carried out in the middle of experiment 1 only. In both experiments, pigs on the 50 ppm diet grew at a faster rate than the pigs on the other diets, but significantly faster in experiment 2 only. Feed consumption was slightly stimulated by the presence of Carbadox though not significantly, while the efficiency of feed utilization was significantly improved in experiment 2, being best for the 50 ppm diet and worst for the control Carbadox diet. The difference in the nutrients digestion coefficients and nitrogen retention, all of which were close for all treatments, with no consistent trends