Effect of Live Saccharomyces cerevisiae on Immune Response in Early Weaned Crossbred Piglets

A study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding live Saccharomyces cerevisiae on immune response of early weaned crossbred (Landrace × Desi) piglets, which were assigned into four different groups (T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄), twelve piglets in each group following completely randomized design. The piglets of T₁ and T₂ were weaned at 28 day of age while T₃ and T₄ were weaned at 42 day of age. They were fed concentrate mixture (NRC, 1998) consisting of crushed maize, deoiled soybean, wheat bran and fish meal as a major ingredient. T₁ and T₃ were fed basal diet without S. cerevisiae, however, T₂ and T₄ were supplemented with live S. cerevisiae (200 g/d/head on fresh basis containing 2-3x10⁶ cfu/g). Humoral immunity of growing piglets was evaluated at day 0, 14 and 28 against injecting SRBC (i/m). Antibody response to SRBC in group T₂ and T₄ was significantly (P<0.001) higher as compared to group T₁ and T₃. The DTH response to intra-dermal inoculation of PHA-P revealed that the skin thickness was increased over the post-inoculation (PI) periods at 6, 12 and 24 hours in all the four groups. When compared among the different groups, there was a significant (P<0.05) increase in skin thickness in group T₄ as compared to group T₁ and T₃ but the value was comparable to T₂. The results revealed that S. cerevisiae feeding improved the immune response of the early weaned crossbred piglets.