in a commercial setting. But with growth being so important in the nursery phase, feed intake must be maximised so that pigs consume the required nutrients for optimal growth. Increasing feed intake during the first week post-weaning not only pro- motes growth and overall health during the nursery phase, but it also boosts performance during the entire grow-out period.


Phase-to-phase transition The main goals of an early piglet nutrition programme are to avoid post-weaning growth depression, help piglets adapt to a grain-based diet, and make this transition as rapidly as possi- ble. Because piglets undergo dramatic changes in digestive development, phase feeding is necessary to closely match nutrient requirements and digestive capabilities, to get maxi- mum performance in the nursery. Phase feeding aims to make transitioning from one feed to another easier on the piglets’ GI tract. However, other nutritional tools like enzyme supplemen- tation can help to ease this transition on piglets. Especially when few feeding phases are used, these nutritional strategies can help to minimise the inherent excess of nutrients in the beginning and deficiency in the end of each phase, which can harm growth and health. Feed costs make up 70-80% of production costs. Variability on digestibility in feed ingredients of piglet diets can increase feed costs even more, and harm growth and health. The closest match of nutrient requirements and nutrients provided in feed will result in lower feeding costs and better growth and health. Along with precise formulation, supplementing piglet diets with protease enzymes can help to control variability of nutri- ent digestibility which will reduce production costs and max-


imise both nutrient availability and digestibility so as not to upset gut health in vulnerable piglets. Soybean meal (SBM) is commonly used as the primary protein source in swine diets. While some proteins in SBM are more easily digested, others can be quite difficult, especially for newly weaned piglets. Proteins that cause piglets the most problems include glycinin, which makes up about 40% of the total soybean protein, and β-conglycinin, which makes up about 30% of the total protein. Soy proteins glycinin and β-conglycinin have been found to be antigenic within the intestinal lumen.


Growth enhancement With consumer pressure, and regulatory mandates in some cases, to end the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs), swine producers are looking for alternatives to recoup as much growth as possible while maintaining production costs. Alternatives to AGPs such as probiotics, enzymes, prebiotics and organic acids have the ability to assist in animal produc- tion similarly to antibiotics, but without the concern of antimi- crobial resistance. There will not be one ‘silver bullet’ to replace AGPs, so a multiplatform approach must be used to improve nursery growth and performance. The myriad of problems encountered in early piglet develop- ment are by no means easy to solve, and will have a life-long impact on the pig’s performance and producer’s profitability. However, with a deeper understanding of the post-weaning challenges and how they are interrelated, a multifactorial approach can be implemented to improve the growth perfor- mance of the young pig.


PIGLETS - JULY/AUGUST 2016 27


The diet changes that a piglet experiences in the first 80 days of life are vast but the gut is expected to manage these changes.


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