Abstract: In order to study the effects of different doses of Chinese herbal medicine and antibiotics on production performance and economic benefits of weaning piglets, 60 three-crossbred healthy weaning piglets were selected (Duroc×Landrace×Large White), with the weight of (10±1)kg. They were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups (3 experimental groups and 1 control group) and each group had 3 replications including 5 piglets separately. In each experimental group, the basal diets were supplemented with 0.2%, 0.4% Chinese herbal medicine and antibiotics (400 mg/kg of colistin sulfate). The results showed that, in comparison to the control group, the average daily gains in 3 experimental groups increased respectively by 8.24%, 9.17% and 8.65% in turn, significant differences (P＜0.05)；feed to gain ratioes were decreased by 5.12%, 6.56% and 5.01%, significant differences (P＜0.05)；piglet diarrhea rates decreased；the gross profits per pig increased respectively by 3.78%,5.87% and 4.07%. It illustrated that Chinese herbal medicine could completely replace antibiotics to a certain extent, but there were some differences between the effects of different doses of Chinese herbal medicine.

Key words:

Chinese herbal medicine; weaning piglets; growth performance; diarrhea; daily gain; feed to gain ratio