PHOTO: ZELENETSKAY COMPANY
FEED ADDITIVES ▶▶▶
Stress in finisher pigs? Lithium additives may help
After several years of study, Russian scientists have designed feed additives based on lithium. This may help control stress in finisher pigs.
BY VLADISLAV VOROTNIKOV, CORRESPONDENT D
eveloping lithium-based feed additives has taken years of study by scientists from the All-Russia Re- search and Development Institute of Livestock Physiology, Biochemistry, and Feeding in the Kalu-
ga region of Russia. Konstantin Ostrenko, head of the insti- tute’s laboratory of immunobiotechnology and microbiology, explained that in 2020, lithium ascorbate successfully passed its ultimate field trials at Tomsky pig farm, operated by Rus- sian pork producer Sibagro. As both efficiency and safety have been confirmed, lithium ascorbate is being registered as a feed additive in Russia, says Ostrenko. For a long time, the scientists in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, have known that modern industrial pig farms with noisy, heavy machines make pigs much more prone to depression than they were a few decades ago. Pigs can get also depressed because of other reasons, such as transfer from one group to another or changes in diet or weaning. Just as in humans, mental problems in some pigs lead to
weight loss, while others tend to accumulate more subcuta- neous fat. As a result, farmers get less profit, without knowing what is causing the problems.
Lithium ascorbate in finishing pigs A 2019 study showed that stressors arising in the course of a standard pig production cycle strengthen activity of the bio- logically active centres in pigs, depending on individual levels of general reactivity. The scientists also reported that experi- mental data on the complex of endocrinological and bio- chemical parameters, among other things, indicated that lith- ium ascorbate has a positive effect on antioxidant status in finishing pigs. Several Russian companies have already expressed interest in curbing stress and improving animal welfare. “Nowadays, in the context of intensive pig farming, the manifestation of stress on farms is not a rare thing. Animals react to any, even minor changes in farm conditions, especially in the spring and autumn. Metabolism changes and immunity decreases, the percentage of necrosis and cannibalism increases, and a decrease in productivity is seen,” said Lyubov Gordeeva, chief livestock specialist of the Russian major pork producer Agro- promkomplektatsiya Group. Gordeeva added that the com- pany had already introduced some components of anti-stress therapy at its farms and is interested in a specially developed anti-stress drug.
Pigs experience stress just as humans do.
30 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 38, No. 4, 2022
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