Polyol mixture supplementation as a sweetener and/or feed additive in the diet of piglets

In a 2 X 2 factorial experiment 80 litters (average litter size 9.9) of crossbred Large White pigs, initially 7 days old, were given a pelleted creep feed supplemented with sucrose 4%; sucrose 4% + olaquindox 50 mg/kg feed; polyols 8%; polyols 8% + olaquindox 50 mg/kg feed. Polyols are sugar alcohols, a byproduct of xylitol production from xylan-containing material. Pigs were weaned at 5 weeks old. Mortality of pigs between 7 and 49 days, 4 groups in order as above, was 11.2, 8.4, 8.8 and 6.4%. After weaning the groups given olaquindox gained significantly faster than the controls; gains were similar with polyols alone and sucrose alone. After weaning there was no significant difference among groups in feed intake. Relative feed conversion efficiency was 100, 79, 90 and 81. Olaquindox decreased the incidence of diarrhoea after weaning.