Causes and Solutions of Diarrhea in Early-Weaned Piglets

  The causes of post-weaning diarrhea in piglets are complex. Research over the past 20 years has shown that dietary factors are the main cause of post-weaning diarrhea in piglets. The reasons are: (1) A certain number of pathogenic microorganisms (pathogenic Escherichia coli and rotavirus, etc.) generally exist in the gastrointestinal tract of healthy piglets. (2) Introducing isolated pathogenic microorganisms into the gastrointestinal tract of unweaned piglets and weaned piglets that are either not supplemented or fully supplemented with feed did not always cause diarrhea. (3) The proliferation of intestinal pathogenic microorganisms is not necessarily linked to post-weaning diarrhea. (4) When no pathogenic microorganisms are present or proliferating, weaned piglets can still develop diarrhea. (5) If weaning does not cause intestinal damage, piglets will not develop diarrhea, although pathogenic Escherichia coli can still be detected in piglet feces. (6) Practice has proven that antibiotics are not completely effective in preventing and treating post-weaning diarrhea in piglets.

Pictured: sow

  (1) Allergic reaction caused by feed protein antigens: Miller et al. (1984) first proposed the "diarrhea allergy theory" of early-weaned piglets, and people began to have a new understanding of the causes of diarrhea in early-weaned piglets. Piglets that have less contact with feed before weaning develop more severe disease after weaning.

  (2) Anti-nutritional factors in feed: Anti-nutritional factors are substances produced by plant metabolism that exert anti-nutritional effects on animals through different mechanisms. Their main manifestations are reducing the utilization rate of nutrients in feed and affecting the growth rate and health level of animals.

  Anti-nutritional factors are widespread in the plant kingdom, which is the result of long-term natural selection. One plant can contain multiple anti-nutritional factors, such as soybean, which contains protease inhibitors, phytohemagglutinin, urease and other anti-nutritional factors. The same anti-nutritional factor can also exist in multiple plants. For example, tannins exist in sorghum, rapeseed, broad bean and other plants.

  As a kind of "biological pesticide", anti-nutritional factors can protect plants and their seeds from molds, bacteria, viruses and birds, but they are harmful to animals, mainly by reducing protein utilization.