and increases sow milk production resulting in heavier and more uniform litters at weaning. Low piglet feed intake before weaning is often followed by poor dry feed intake after weaning. This is accompanied by disruption in gut health, including dysbiosis, reduced perfor- mance and compromised health. Another Adisseo solution targets that part: Delistart is a solution for young piglets, con- sisting of a combination of flavourings, appetising substances and sweeteners. It was developed for inclusion into creep and starter feeds to provide specific taste cues that will stimulate solid feed intake in young piglets. To put both to the test, a study was conducted to investigate the effects of a flavour in diets of highly prolific lactating sows on sensory imprinting effects on post-weaning performance of piglets when fed either a sweetener or a flavour like the sow received. The study was set up as a 2×2 factorial de- signed experiment. The treatments are illustrated in Figure 1.
Trial set-up For the trial, 182 highly prolific sows were randomly assigned to two replicates of 91 sows; within each replicate, sows and litters were distributed in a factorial designed experiment among the four treatments shown in Figure 1. The duration of the treatment was for the entire lactation period (23 days). Cross-fostering was applied within the first 48 hours after far- rowing to standardise the litter size at 15 piglets. Diets were based on corn and soybean meal. The trial period for the piglets lasted from weaning to seven days post-weaning.
The individual piglet performance and the pen performance were recorded during the nursery and the post-weaning peri- ods. During the nursery period, piglets in group 4 outper- formed their counterparts in all the other groups as reflected by a 29% increase in feed intake and 40% increase in average daily gain (ADG). During the post-weaning period a signifi- cant (p<0.05) interaction between the sow treatment and the piglet treatment was observed for average end weight, ADG and total feed intake of the individual piglet as well as of the litters, indicating that feeding piglets with a starter feed con- taining a flavour like the one the sow received facilitated their weaning transition and improved their feed intake.
Sensorial imprinting effect The trial demonstrates that there was a sensorial imprinting effect of feeding Krave AP to lactating sows on the perfor- mance of the litter. Findings also show that the use of Delis- tart K-Link had a positive effect on the performance of piglets. When the sows’ lactation feed and the piglets’ pre-starter feed are matched for palatability the piglets do not experi- ence it as a new feed. Therefore, both the lactation and pre-starter feeds should be formulated for palatability as the sensory imprinting achieved with this technology provides a win-win solution. Or to put it simply: pigs that eat, grow.
The authors can be reached at
pietro.celi@adisseo.com and luiz.
souza@adisseo.com.
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 2, 2021 49
Sensory imprint- ing in practice: A piglet learns from its mother what feed may taste like.
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