Adding garlic to pig feed can promote pig growth

Swiss researchers have found that adding a small amount of garlic to pig feed is highly beneficial to the healthy growth of pigs. Garlic may be enough to play the role of antibiotics in the process of raising meat pigs. Martin Jost of the poultry research institute added ordinary antibiotics, garlic, or nothing at all to the feed of three groups of piglets.

The results showed that the use of garlic was more effective in reducing diarrhea and sudden death in piglets than using no garlic or only antibiotics, but the drawback was that pigs fed with garlic as an additive gained weight more slowly, while those using antibiotics did not. Even so, Jost still believes that an appropriate amount of garlic and other "organic" medicines will eventually replace antibiotics. In Europe, the voice opposing the use of antibiotics is growing stronger, because people worry that the use of antibiotics will prompt bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics.

Jost also pointed out in the trial report that from the garlic-added pig feed he used, the smell and taste of garlic could no longer be detected, because he mashed the garlic very finely, and the enzyme that can produce the odor had already lost its activity.