Effect of Antibiotics on Intestinal Microflora and on Growth of Turkeys and Pigs.

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Abstract
Tests were conducted to correlate the growth stimulation of penicillin and terramycin and their effects on the intestinal microflora in turkey poults and young pigs. Growth of turkey poults was consistently improved by addition of the antibiotics alone and together to a basal diet containing no antibiotics. At 2 and at 3 weeks no consistent differences were observed between the control groups and groups receiving antibiotic with respect to total aerobes, total anaerobes, lactose negative rods and enterococci in the cecal contents. However, the genus Proteus was found in the birds fed the antibiotics but not in birds fed the basal diet. The count of an organism noted in the cecal contents of birds on the basal diet having characteristics of Clostridium perfringens was greatly reduced by the antibiotics in all cases. The organism was observed in very large numbers in the feces of young pigs fed a purified diet. Addition of terramycin greatly reduced the count of this organism and stimulated the growth of the pigs. Possibly the growth stimulating action of the antibiotics could have been due to the inhibition of this toxin-producing organism.