Piglets can be selective when it comes to what they will and won’t eat.
The discrepancy means that humans are not the best deter- miners of how ingredients will taste to piglets. Addressing this issue in feeds can be through a two-pronged approach. First, ingredients with bitter tastes should be avoided and, second, ingredients trialled in swine and known to provide a positive taste experience should be emphasised – especially in feeds for young pigs.
Peripheral nutrient sensing In addition to a well-developed sense of smell and taste, pigs also have receptors for nutrient detection in the gastrointes- tinal tract (GIT). This additional detective ability is known as peripheral nutrient sensing. The sensors are thought to help determine satiety and the metabolic regulation of feed intake based on connections to the nervous and endocrine systems.
Somatosensing or “mouthfeel” The final area that can trip up a diet and move it into the “I won’t eat that” category is mouthfeel, or the actual sensation provided by ingesting the feed. This aspect of the feed is linked to piglets’ nervous pathway and can trigger the pain centre. This can be an area for special consideration because piglets’ deciduous teeth erupt in the first ten weeks, meaning hard-to-chew or crunchy feeds could be physically painful to consume.
Although liquid feeds could be a way to address this chal- lenging period, they tend to need specific formulations to support even and stable growth. However, previous
28 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 3, 2022
texture-focused work has identified that piglets prefer moist food to dry and choose warm over cold and soft over hard feed, so many desirable elements for feed have been iden- tified. Providing a feed that focuses on including positive attributes helps support feed intake.
Additional challenges Beyond palatability concerns, there is the hurdle of transi- tioning piglets from sow’s milk to a completely different food. Young pigs can be prone to food neophobia, or distrust of un- known feeds and flavours. Stressful periods, like weaning, can heighten this response, which emphasises the importance of providing compound feeds in the pre-weaning period (also called creep feeds). Dramatically changing flavours or feed palatability, especially at weaning, can threaten a drop in feed intake, destabilise piglet gut health and adversely influence performance. Using a common set of flavours across diets can help avoid a drop in feed intake post-weaning. Decades of in vitro and in vivo research providing insights on how piglets decide what to eat led Trouw Nutrition to devel- op the Milkiwean Vital Start feeding programme. The highly palatable diet has been specifically formulated to account for mouthfeel and was developed to include a flavour and aroma profile that encourages piglets to eat. Assuring adequate feed intake is a foundational strategy for helping piglets navigate the weaning transition. Selecting a diet that prioritises feed intake can help protect piglet gut health and set the stage for lifetime performance.
PHOTO: TROUW NUTRITION
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