Modulating gastrointestinal Microflora of pigs through nutrition using feed additives

the benefits of feeding pigs with feed additives such as preand probiotics, acidifiers, herbs, enzymes, macroand micronutrients and zootechnical additives include higher daily weight gains, better feed conversion, increased intake of feed by animals as a result of improved palatability, and improvements in health and welfare, as reflected in the lower frequency of diarrhoea and limited mortality of piglets. it is therefore necessary to continue research on the development of better and better feed additives that ensure optimum composition of the gastrointestinal microflora in piglets while preventing diarrhoea and its negative consequences. the use of advances in molecular biology and the search for new methods that are more accurate than culture-dependent techniques are critical to success in more complete identification of the gastrointestinal microflora and its influence on normal body function. the possibility of observing changes within the populations of intestinal microorganisms, strictly correlated to the ingested food, offers hope for improvement of the health of farm animals and of production parameters by modifying the composition of intestinal bacteria.