What are the benefits and effects of using baking soda in pig farming?
Baking soda is a very common weak alkaline substance in our daily lives. When taken orally, it can neutralize stomach acid, dissolve mucus in the stomach, and increase alkaline reserves. Nowadays, when raising pigs, many pig farmers choose to use baking soda in pig farming, as baking soda has many benefits for pigs' digestive systems. So what exactly are the benefits of using baking soda in pig farming? Today, the editor will give you a brief introduction. Let's take a look below!
1. Promote growth
As mentioned earlier, baking soda can neutralize stomach acid and has the effect of strengthening the stomach, suppressing acid, and improving appetite. It can enhance pigs' digestive ability, improve nutrient utilization, and regulate the acid-base balance in the pig's body. It can also supplement lysine in the pig's body, which is very beneficial for pig growth. Survey data shows that when raising piglets, adding an appropriate amount of baking soda to the feed can significantly increase piglets' feed intake, and daily weight gain also increases. For finishing pigs, properly feeding about 3g of baking soda can increase daily weight gain by about 100g, and can also improve meat quality.
2. Prevent diarrhea
Baking soda can have a buffering effect on the blood tissue in pigs' bodies. It can enhance pigs' own resistance and reduce stress reactions. If sows are properly given some baking soda in their feed 7 days before farrowing and during the postpartum lactation period, it can effectively prevent sows from developing diarrhea. It can also enhance sows' physique, promote rapid recovery of growth, and avoid piglets developing white scour and other conditions. The survival rate of piglets can also be increased by about 5% as a result, effectively reducing pig diseases and stress reactions.
3. Prevent heat stress
Pigs lack sweat glands. In summer when temperatures are high, pigs mainly dissipate heat through breathing. If energy or oxygen supply is insufficient, cell metabolism will produce lactic acid, causing increased acidity in the pig's body fluids, and in severe cases can lead to acidosis in pigs. Feeding baking soda can allow body fluids to absorb it, stabilize the pig's pH value, ensure normal cell metabolism, and effectively alleviate heat stress. In summer, it can also promote heat dissipation from the pig's body, maintain the pig's body heat balance, and avoid heatstroke.
4. Improve meat quality
When raising pigs, if additives are fed for a long time, it will have a great impact on pork quality. For example, antibiotics and others, but if baking soda is added, it will not only not reduce meat quality but can also improve it. Because baking soda can reduce the acidity in meat, eating meat with low acidity is beneficial to the human body, and pork with low acidity has strong storage resistance. However, if used improperly, it can also have a certain impact on pigs. For example, if salt and baking soda are fed together, it will increase sodium ions in the pig's body. If there are too many sodium ions, it will cause edema in pigs, affect the nerve center, and lead to impaired movement.
Therefore, everyone must pay attention to controlling the feeding amount of salt when feeding baking soda, as well as some vitamin B1, C, and folic acid, to prevent the opposite effect. The above is a brief introduction to the benefits of using baking soda in pig farming. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!