How to prevent diarrhea in piglets without antibiotics
Without antibiotics, how do piglets avoid diarrhea
Strategy:
Ensure high feed intake after weaning; high feed intake after weaning is crucial for piglet gut health.
Improve diet digestibility; high digestibility will not provide substrates for the proliferation of intestinal pathogenic microorganisms.
Improve gut health and the overall health of piglets.
Feed intake
Feed intake in the first few days after weaning is crucial for piglet gut health.
Low feed intake after weaning reduces villus height and impairs intestinal barrier function, causing long-term damage to piglet health and growth performance (some effects can even persist into the finishing period). Feed intake in the first week after weaning determines most of a piglet's lifetime growth (-40%), so creep feeding after weaning and ensuring high feed intake are what we need to focus on.
The increase in feed intake after weaning depends on many factors, such as: piglet health, creep feeding, weaning age and weaning weight, environment, water and other factors. The selection of high-quality raw materials and attractants is also very important for high-quality creep feed.
Digestibility
The main components of creep feed are protein sources, lactose and grains. Improving the digestibility of protein and grains is crucial for improving the overall digestibility of the creep diet.
⟧ Diets with high digestibility ensure high nutrient supply and can reduce the substrates (undigested nutrients) needed for the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms in the large intestine, reducing diarrhea.
An important aspect of improving digestibility is controlling the dietary acid-binding capacity, because at this time piglets have limited gastric acid secretion capacity, and only by 7-10 weeks of age can piglets' gastric acid secretion capacity fully develop. Therefore, when selecting raw materials, it is important to reduce acid-binding capacity and improve digestibility.
Health improvement
In the farrowing house, piglets are protected by maternal antibodies, but after weaning this passive immunity disappears. Piglets are then in an immune gap period, and together with weaning stress, low feed intake and immature gut development, post-weaning piglets are particularly susceptible to disease.
Building piglet immunity before and after weaning is crucial for piglet health and the realization of later growth potential, and the damage to intestinal barrier function caused by weaning stress at this time cannot be ignored. Oxidative stress damages intestinal barrier function, increasing permeability to pathogenic bacteria, antigens and toxins, making piglets more susceptible to disease.