Understanding early piglet development
Rightfully so, early piglet growth is one of the most widely discussed and researched topics in swine health and nutrition. There are countless problems associated with early piglet development, yet despite efforts to overcome these, producers leave growth potential, and ultimately money, on the table.
By Cassio Villela, senior marketing specialist, Global Swine – Novus International
I
n general, piglet health is closely related to nutrition, and there are many factors to consider in early piglet development in regards to nutrition. Top of mind con- siderations are nutrient requirements, feed intake, growth, immunity and pre-weaning mortality. Then
you have other topics, such as the impact of maternal feeding on progeny development, digestive physiology capacity and diet transition management. None of these concepts are new, but combined, they make early piglet management a careful balancing act of management and nutritional factors, and the slightest improvement to any of these factors can bring pig- lets closer to reaching their genetic potential. In piglet production and nutrition, we rarely consider what we feed gestating sows and how it impacts developing embry- os and resulting piglets. However, research has shown that the addition of chelated trace minerals to sow diets can increase not only the number of piglets born alive by three piglets per sow per lifetime, but also piglet birth weight by up to 9% (Figure 1).
Low birth weight increases pre-wean mortality and suscepti- bility to diarrhoea. Low birth weight is also an indicator of poor consecutive piglet performance, including average daily gain. It has been documented that increasing body weight by 1 kg at weaning results in 2 kg more at nursery exit and 4 kg more at market.
Figure 1 – Supplementation of chelated trace minerals* to sow diets can increase piglet birth weight by up to 9% over control.
1.38 1.35
1.32 1.29
1.26
1.23 1.2
Control *Mintrex, Novus Chelated trace minerals* Piglet Birth Weight 1.25 1.36
A healthy gut Gut health is something that is often only considered when there is an obvious issue, such as diarrhoea, because those two are very easily linked. Strategies to promote gut health are also closely considered in scenarios where antibiotic growth pro- moters are either limited or completely absent. Gut health chal- lenges include poor nutrient absorption, poor growth perfor- mance, diarrhoea, immunity suppression and mortality. Improvement of gut health has to focus on multiple bottle necks such as imbalanced gut microflora, gut morphology for proper nutrient absorption and undigested protein reaching the hindgut. These challenges combined lead to bacterial over- growth, depressed performance, disease, and ultimately the production challenges seen at a clinical level. There are many feed additives used today to optimise gut health, including organic acids, enzymes and trace minerals. The diet changes that a piglet experiences in the first 80 days of life are vast. The gut is expected to manage these changes, even when, at a ration level, a stepwise approach is used. The change is still substantial for the gut microflora. Issues which arise are often times quickly linked to a gut health issue, but, when looking deeper at the digestive physiology capacity, there is more to be understood and can be done to better manage this transition for piglets. Weaning reduces endogenous protease production. Digestibility coefficients, in many cases, don’t accurately represent the nursery phase. Gut morphology changes as piglets grow older. All of these things, when consid- ered and managed together, help manage the physiology of digestion, and fundamentally improve gut health. It is well understood that young piglets have limited feed intake and aren’t able to meet the nutrient requirements to perform to their genetic potential. There are too many challenges to over- come – a completely new diet and new way of eating, and social and environmental stressors, to eat to their full potential
26 PIGLETS - JULY/AUGUST 2016
kg
PHOTO: NOVUS
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