Report no. 791
Anne-Katrine Skovsted Koch
29.06.2007
Energy Water in feed for weaners and finishers
Abstract
The addition of Energy Water to feed for weaners and finishers was
studied in one herd. Energy Water consists of, among other things,
shark cartilage powder, tripotassium citrate, a special type of
seaweed meal, ionised silver, and a number of homoeopathically
produced substances in aqueous dilutions. The aim of the trial was
to document the effect of the product on weaner productivity. The
trial comprised 28 blocks and 185 pigs/group in the weaner trial,
and 24 blocks and 144 pigs/group in the finisher trial.
Trial design:
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Group 1:
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Control
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Group 2:
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Control including varying doses of Energy Water from JOTO
ApS.
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Energy Water was mixed in pelleted ground feed; due to a short
shelf-life, feed including Energy Water must be used within 14 days
from production date. The feed was initially produced as pelleted
feed; it was subsequently ground and Energy Water was added. Energy
Water does not tolerate heating above 40 °C, and the feed was
therefore neither heat-treated nor pelleted after Energy Water was
added. Analyses made by JOTO ApS revealed that the diets contained
the planned amount of Energy Water. Feed analyses showed good
correspondence between the calculated and the analysed content of
nutrients.
On the basis of the production results of the trial, a production
value was calculated using the same prices for both groups. The
production value is thereby an expression of the overall production
results in one value.
There were no differences in mortality or in the frequency of
diarrhoea treatments in neither the weaner period nor the finisher
period. However, these were secondary recordings, and this trial
was not designed to detect differences in mortality rate or
diarrhoea treatments.
The calculation of the production value revealed that weaners given
feed including Energy Water had a significantly lower production
value in the weaner period as a consequence of a significantly
lower feed conversion and a lower daily gain.
The low production value in the weaner period among the pigs given
Energy Water is probably caused by a deviating taste of the feed,
which may have increased the feed waste. In the finisher period
there were no differences in production value between the groups;
the pigs were given a lower dosage of Energy Water in this
period.
Overall, the trial showed that there are no advantages in terms of
production of adding Energy Water to feed.
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