A probiotic feed additive containing spores of Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis does not prevent absorption and toxic effects of the Fusarium toxin deoxynivalenol in piglets.

A 35-day piglet experiment starting from weaning (21 days of age, 7.7+/-1.1 kg), was performed to examine the effects of feeding a control diet (CTR) and of a Fusarium toxin-contaminated diet (FUS) in the absence (-) or presence (+) of a probiotic additive (2.3 x 10(6) colony-forming units per g diet of a one-to-one ratio of Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis) (deoxynivalenol [DON] concentrations of the CTR-, CTR+, FUS- and FUS+ diets were 0.21, 0.20, 2.75 and 2.45 mg/kg, respectively) on performance, blood concentration of DON and on liver function as evaluated by a breath test. Feeding of the FUS diets significantly depressed performance while the probiotic supplement failed to improve performance either when added to the CTR or to the FUS diet. The DON concentrations in the blood of the piglets fed both FUS diets were not significantly different, while the concentration of its degradation metabolite, de-epoxy-DON, was lower than the detection limit. Thus, it can be concluded that the fed probiotic bacteria neither bound nor degraded DON prior to absorption. Taken together, the tested probiotic additive is not suited to prevent the performance depressing effects of DON in piglets.