How to Promote Gut Health in Weaned Piglets? Practical Methods Shared
How to Promote Gut Health in Weaned Piglets Date: 2016-08-30 11:34 Author: Source: Inner Mongolia Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Information Network Clicks: 7
????1. The Challenge of Piglet Weaning
When piglets are weaned, they must face a complex situation involving a new environment, a new diet, and mixing with different pens. Their immature gut and immune system increase the risk of disease after weaning.
The post-weaning stage can be broadly divided into two periods: the acute phase, lasting 5-10 days, during which piglets show anorexia and constipation, a decline in nutrient digestion and absorption efficiency, and gut dysbiosis and damage; the chronic phase, lasting 5 days, during which feed intake rises, nutrient digestion and absorption efficiency increases, fermentation capacity increases, the establishment of the gastrointestinal microbiota is restored, and functional activity recovers.
????2. How to Measure Dietary Fiber
When regulating the gastrointestinal microbiota of piglets, the following substances can be used:
Acidifiers, prebiotics, probiotics, plant extracts, minerals such as zinc oxide and copper, dietary fiber, low-protein diets, and functional amino acids.
When promoting piglet feed intake and growth, the following substances can be used:
Flavoring agents, synthetic amino acids, easily digestible raw materials, etc.
Among the above substances, dietary fiber is one that is frequently considered and analyzed. For functional fiber in weaned piglet diets, we often examine its function from aspects such as viscosity, fermentability, water-holding capacity, bacterial binding capacity, and physical effects, to assess whether it has a positive effect.
????3. The Efficacy of Dietary Fiber
Dietary fiber can have a variety of positive effects:
Fiber in the diet is divided into two types, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber can slow gastric emptying and is fermented closer to the hindgut, but it also increases chyme viscosity; insoluble fiber can improve digestive function, regulate the gastrointestinal microbiota, and enhance microbial fermentation, but it also reduces nutrient digestibility, which is unfavorable to animal performance.
Trials have found that adding 8% wheat bran to the diet can significantly increase feed intake and daily gain in piglets from 0-10 days after weaning, and promote the formation of butyrate in colonic digesta after weaning. Adding insoluble fiber to the diet within 10 days after weaning can regulate the properties of gastrointestinal digesta in piglets and enhance their fermentation capacity. After diluting the diet with insoluble non-starch polysaccharides during the first two weeks after weaning, piglets had reduced E. coli counts, increased brush border activity, and increased stomach weight, meaning the piglets absorbed the weaning diet better.
For weaned piglets, selecting fiber raw materials from the perspective of functional characteristics is far more important than selecting them from the perspective of chemical composition; the piglet gastrointestinal tract is immature, and adding insoluble fiber helps its development and can promote gut health.
Regarding the point that adding insoluble fiber to the diet can promote the development of the piglet gastrointestinal tract, its positive factors are very likely related to fiber particle size and its ability to adsorb pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli. In high-protein diets after weaning, adding fiber components helps avoid the adverse effects of protein fermentation.
Low-Protein Diets and Functional Amino Acids
The main dietary protein sources for piglets are the following: potato protein, fish meal, amino acids, soybean meal, and corn protein.
The protein level and type in piglet diets need to be determined according to the health status of the farm. For farms with relatively poor health status, or for early-weaned piglets, the meat-to-feed ratio is not the primary indicator; the diet formula should be low in protein and include some functional amino acids such as tryptophan, cysteine, methionine, and threonine. For farms with good health status, the feed-to-meat ratio is an important indicator, and the diet should take ensuring the fastest growth of piglets as the primary goal. On farms with relatively good hygiene conditions, adding a high level of lysine to the diet will produce very good results.