Botanicals for Pigs—Garlic

Botanicals have been proposed as a substitute for antimicrobials in swine diets because of their natural antibacterial activity. Garlic, a botanical that grows in Iowa, was compared with a standard antibacterial nursery dietary regimen. At the tested inclusion levels (0.5, 2.5 and 5%) increasing levels of garlic generally depressed feed intake and average daily gain in nursery pigs and depressed performance compared with the positive control diet with Mecadox. Muscle samples from the garlic-fed pigs all had very objectionable or extremely objectionable off-flavors.