Natural Pig Plasma Immunoglobulins Have Anti-Bacterial Effects: Potential for Use as Feed Supplement for Treatment of Intestinal Infections in Pigs

Hedegaard, Chris J.; Strube, Mikael L.; Hansen, Marie B.; Lindved, Bodil K.; Lihme, Allan; Boye, Mette; Heegaard, Peter M. H.

In contrast, spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) is widely used in intensive swine production as a feed additive resulting in increased average daily growth (ADG) and a reduced feed/ growth ratio (FGR) of weaners, especially in conventional (as opposed to SPF) herds (reviewed in [15] ). In challenge experiments weaners fed SDPP and challenged with relevant pathogens showed a significant increase in ADG as well as a significant reduction in FGR one week after weaning in comparison to a challenged control group not receiving SDPP [15] . The active part of SDPP responsible for this effect has been proposed to be natural IgG antibodies [16] , which are present in high concentrations in SDPP and are presumed to be responsible for the observed reduction in incidence of ETEC infections by SDPP in experimental weaner piglet models for PWD [17, 18] .