Impact of Ambitine (R) Feed Additive on late finishing pig growth performance: A meta-analysis

Abstract Ambitine Feed Additive (AMB), a proprietary blend of phytogenics and acidifiers (PMI, Arden Hills, MN), is formulated to help mitigate late finishing stress in pigs. Several studies using AMB in the late finishing period resulted in improved pig performance. A meta-analytic method used 13 studies (3 studies with ractopamine and 10 studies without) to determine the overall impact of AMB on average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion. The combined data were considered a randomized complete block design. Analysis of variance was completed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS (9.4; Cary, NC) and least squares means were compared using Fisher’s least significant difference (P < 0.05). In the analysis of 10 studies with no added ractopamine (73 pens/treatment of 5 to 10 pigs/pen and 48 pens/treatment of 17 to 20 pigs/pen), pigs provided AMB had higher average daily gain (0.90 vs 0.86 kg/d; P < 0.05), increased average daily feed intake (2.99 vs 2.94 kg/d; P < 0.05), and improved feed efficiency (0.30 vs 0.29 kg gain/kg feed intake; P < 0.05) compared to pigs fed control diets. Additionally, when pigs were provided AMB in addition to ractopamine (3 studies; 33 pens/treatment of 18 to 22 pigs/pen), average daily gain was increased 4.7% (1.206 vs 1.152 kg/d; P < 0.05) and feed efficiency was improved 5.3% (0.40 vs 0.38 kg gain/kg feed intake; P < 0.05) compared to pigs provided only ractopamine, with no difference in feed intake. Pigs provided AMB in addition to ractopamine had increased hot carcass weight and dressing percentage (P < 0.05) compared to those provided ractopamine alone. In conclusion, providing AMB to pigs in late finishing improved ADG and feed efficiency and the improvement was maintained when ractopamine was included in the diets.