Abstract: The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of dietary additive of Chinese herbal formula on growth performance, diarrhea index, serum biochemical parameters and peptic index in early-weaned piglets. Sixty piglets weaned at 21 days of age were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups, representing supplementation with 0 or 2 g/kg of the herbal formula or 0.2 g/kg of colistin to maize- and soybean meal-based diets (n = 20 per group). Dietary supplementation with the formula could increase weight gain and feed efficiency (P<0.05), and effectively prevent piglets from diarrhea (P<0.05). Such functions of the formula were equal to or stronger than those of colistin’s. On d7, the concentration of TG in the formula group was significantly lower than that in supplement-free group (P<0.05); On d14, the activity of GOT in the formula group was significantly higher than that in colistin group (P<0.05), and the activity of CK was lower (P<0.05) than that in colistin group and supplement-free group; On d28, the activity of AMY in the formula group was significantly higher than that in colistin group and supplement-free group, and CK significantly lower than that in colistin group (P<0.05). Collectively, these findings indicate that the herbal formula is safe and effective in preventing the weaning-associated intestinal dysfunction and improving the growth performance in piglets.

Key words: Chinese herbal formula, dietary additive, weaned piglet, growth performance, serum biochemical parameter