An experiment was designed to study the clinical effects of different levels of
carbadox,
cyadox and
olaquindox in the ration on health, weekly
weight gain and feed conversion in pigs. Four different
carbadox and
olaquindox (25, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) levels and five different
cyadox (25, 50, 100, 200 and 400 ppm) levels were tested in groups of 6 pigs during 6 weeks. The 13 groups were compared with a control group fed on the same diet with only vehicle. After one week the first clinical sign, a high faecal dry matter (FDM) content, was observed in the 200 ppm
carbadox group, followed by the 100 and 50 ppm
carbadox, the 400 and 100 ppm
cyadox, and the 200 and 100 ppm
olaquindox groups two weeks later. A second clinical sign, urine drinking from the floor or from pen-mates, was observed in the same pens, occurring in the same sequence. The third important clinical sign, a decreased abdominal volume, was also observed in almost the same sequence, however, in the 50 ppm
olaquindox and
cyadox groups this clinical sign was not observed. Average weekly
weight gain was significantly decreased in the higher
carbadox and
olaquindox groups.
Weight gain was significantly increased in the 200 ppm
cyadox group. Hematocrit values were significantly increased in the 200 and 100 ppm
carbadox groups only. From this study one may conclude that, within the dosages used,
carbadox is more harmful than
olaquindox for pigs, and it seems that
cyadox is harmless for pigs in dosages up to 400 ppm.