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Antibiotic resistance of pathogens, which is caused by the abuse of in-feed antibiotics, threatens the sustainable development of livestock production. The present study aimed to investigate the efficiency of porcine intestinal antimicrobial peptide (PIAP) as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics in terms of growth performance, intestinal morphology, digestive enzymes and immunity, and microbiota community of the post-weaning piglets. A total of 204 piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, weaned at 28 d age) with a similar body weight of 7.97 ± 1.04 kg were randomly allocated to 4 groups (51 piglets per group): (1) control group: basal diet; (2) AB group: antibiotic, basal diet + chlortetracycline (1000 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 500 mg/kg from d 25 to 37); (3) P1 group: basal diet + a relatively low dose of PIAP (400 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 300 mg/kg from d 25 to 37); (4) P2 group, basal diet + a relatively high dose of PIAP (600 …