Silver nanoparticle as growth promoter for growing and finishing pigs

• Grant number: 20/05316-0
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): September 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Cesar Augusto Pospissil Garbossa
• Grantee: Emilye Izabele Cristina de Moraes
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

With the World Health Organization's ban on antibiotics used as growth promoters because of the risk of bacterial resistance, the search for alternative feed additives is increasing Among the alternatives nanotechnology has shown promising results, nanostructured silver compounds have promising effects as antimicrobial and antifungal agents, in this sense the objective of this experiment is to verify the efficacy and to define the optimal dose of silver nanoparticle as growth promoter additive for pigs in the growth and finishing phases. Will be used 80 piglets (barrows and gilts), with live weight of 25 kg housed in the growth and finishing unit of the Pig Research Laboratory (LPS), the experimental design will be randomized blocks according to gender and weight, with five treatments and eight replicates with two animals per pen. The experimental unit for performance will be the average of the animals of the pen. Five treatments will be used: negative control without growth promoter, positive control with Halquinol as growth promoter at 120 ppm, silver nanoparticle as growth promoter at 5 ppm, silver nanoparticle as a growth promoter at a dose of 10 ppm, use of silver nanoparticle as a growth promoter at a dose of 15 ppm. The additives will be substituted for inert material (kaolin) in the feed. The following experimental procedures will be performed: the animals will be thermally challenged two days before the start of the trial and the sanitary challenge, where they will be housed in an unhygienic pen. The animals will be weighed at the beginning of the experiment and every 14 days. Fecal score analysis will be performed by classifying the feces in the stall and calculating the occurrence of diarrhea as a percentage related to the study days. At the end of the experiment the animals will be sent to slaughter and followed by carcass evaluation, the economic analysis will also be performed in order to evaluate the viability of using the additive.