NEWS ▶▶▶ FeedChat podcast addresses mycotoxins
In a brand new podcast series called Feed- Chat, Pig Progress and Trouw Nutrition address several current issues in the international pig feed industry. In part 1, a deep dive is taken into the theme of mycotoxins, which consti- tute a health challenge in feed for pigs, poul- try and dairy cows, amongst others. In this first episode, Pig Progress editor Vincent ter Beek explores the theme of mycotoxins to- gether with Trouw Nutrition’s Pedro Miguel Caramona. Caramona is the company’s global programme manager for mycotoxin risk man- agement and has many years of experience in the mycotoxin business. In the podcast, mycotoxins are explored in de- tail. A brief overview is given as to which my- cotoxins are harmful for animals, and the is- sues suurounding more than one mycotoxin occurring at the time. Caramona also delves into the importance of detecting mycotoxins beyond acute levels – i.e. at low levels. In addition, he touches on three main things farmers can do to protect their herds and flocks from the threat of mycotoxins. Another issue addressed in the podcast is that of
Enrichment for sows helps piglets
mycotoxins in the context of climate change. This podcast was broadcast timely on14- 16 October, coinciding with the ‘World Myco- toxin Forum Meets IUPAC 2019’ being held in Belfast, Northern Ireland where Dr Paul Brui- nenberg discussed an integrated approach to mitigate mycotoxins in feed. Future FeedChat episodes will follow in the coming weeks and months, touching on topi- cal subjects, including antibiotic reduction. Readers can find and listen to the podcasts on
www.pigprogress.net or on the websites of the sister titles All About Feed, Poultry World or Dairy Global.
Fat deposition up due to night feeding
Fat deposition in pigs fed at night time increas- es by 7% compared to those fed at normal feeding times. That was the conclusion of a study presented by PhD student Rik van Erp at the symposium ‘Digestion Kinetics in Pigs’ on October 3 in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Time of feed intake can be influenced by sever- al factors, such as a high stocking density and heat stress. Van Erp, attached to Wageningen University & Research, said, “Small pigs housed in high stocking density will be chased away by dominant pigs, and forced to eat at differ- ent times. Pigs experiencing heat stress will also have different feeding times.” Hise main focus was to answer the question,’In case timing of feed intake does matter, how does it affect the pig’s energy metabolism? During the study, one group of pigs was fed at normal times in daytime and the other group was fed at night. He showed that digestibility of dry matter, energy and nitrogen were simi- lar in both groups. However, the team ob-
served a metabolic difference: heat production in day-fed pigs was higher than in night-fed pigs, resulting in a higher energy retention for the night-fed pigs. Van Erp noted, “We observed no difference in protein retention, so all the extra energy was stored as fat; the night-fed group stored 7% more fat.” This extra fat storage resulted in 1.7kg more final fat mass and 0.6mm higher back-fat thickness. The percentage of meat decreased by 1.1%, and carcass weight remained unchanged. Van Erp explains the increase in fat deposition through the night-fed pigs’ lower heat produc- tion. “Heat production can be divided into ac- tivity-related and resting metabolic rate (RMR) activity. Looking at the two groups, 60% of the difference in heat production was related to RMR and 40% to activity-related heat. This in- dicates that the difference in fat deposition is related to differences in metabolic processes, not only activity.”
Environmental enrichment at the end of sows’ gestation has been shown to influence the off- spring’s behaviour, thereby improving their welfare. This was the conclusion of a trial by researchers from the University of São Paulo, Brazil and the University of Veterinary Medi- cine in Vienna, Austria. Their results were pub- lished in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. The goal of the research team was to assess the effects of enrichment during gestation on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and on offspring behaviour. The team kept 18 sows in straw during the final third part of gestation (90-114 days) and 18 sows without straw. After the piglets were born, they ana- lysed the behaviour, salival cortisol levels, and performed fear tests to assess resilience, emo- tional reactivity, responsiveness to stressors, and cognition. The environmental enrichment used during gestation reduced the piglets’ aggressiveness and nosing. Salivary cortisol was higher in pig- lets from sows kept in barren environments, whereas salivary cortisol was higher in piglets from sows in environmentally enriched condi- tions only on the day of weaning. The team found that there was no difference in the pig- lets’ emotionality when they compared groups with both sexes together. However, they not- ed a sex-specific difference, where females born from environmental-enriched sows ex- plored more and showed less fear on a novel object test. The team concluded that environmental en- richment at the end of gestation influences offspring HPA-axis activity and behaviour and improves welfare.
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▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 35, No. 9, 2019 33
PHOTO: MARCELLE WIEGAND BRUSS
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