and omnivorous feeders and known to consume an extensive variety of food. They also likely have a high number of taste buds among mammals, only second to big ruminants (and perhaps rabbits). This creates opportunities to develop solutions that positively stimulate the appetite of piglets and help overcome the stress created around weaning. New concepts have recently emerged to secure feed intake, re- duce health challenges and improve the well-being of animals. These concepts are based on the combination of several mole- cules acting as sweet taste enhancers and few specific mole- cules naturally occurring in plant such as cinnamon or anise. In- gredients of such hybrid solutions have been carefully selected to trigger multiple modes of actions: • The different ingredients act synergistically to create a unique and more intense taste through a multi-sensorial approach, which stimulates the curiosity of the piglets and raise interest for feed during the weaning period
• Sweet-taste enhancers act to enhance feed intake but also to support the development of the gut, which later improves the absorption of nutrients and the feed efficacy
• Finally, molecules naturally occurring in plant such as cinnamon or anise improve intestinal health and reduce inflammation.
Such concepts are brought under a granulated form to en- sure optimal dispersion in feed. They offer all-in-one and cost-effective solutions to overcome the challenges triggered by-post weaning stress. Several field trials have been conducted to determine the effect of such concepts during the post-weaning period. Figure 1 shows a summary of results measured or observed during these experiments (NC: Negative Control, TC: Tested Concept). As usual, many measurements and observations were made, and few important parameters were consistently improved during experiments: • Feed intake was systematically improved, even though the amplitude of the response varies with tests
• Interestingly, the homogeneity of group was improved, due to a reduction of weak/light piglets
• Finally, the feed efficacy was improved, also for animals fed with positive control till 6 weeks post weaning
From these observations, it seems that supplementing such hybrid concepts to weaned piglets give good hope to better overcome damages from stress at weaning. Besides, ex- pending application of these concepts to the sow may also help to further mitigate stress at weaning.
Figure 1 - Summary of measurements and observations made during trials, from 1 to 21 days, as well from 21 to 42 days post-weaning.
+3 to +6% vs NC
Less weak piglets
-2 to -5% vs NC
NC
TC
Daily weight gain
NC
TC
Figure 2 - Four treatments: animals exposed to anise both pre- and postnatally (FF), prenatally (FC), postnatally (CF), or never (CC). Adapted from Oostindjer, 2010.
1.5 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.3
FF Play behaviour
5 4 3 2 1
FC CF CC
Play behaviour during the 14-d postweaning, in % of scans within the observations
14 Diarrhoea
12 13
11 10 9 0
FF FC CF CC
Total number of days during the 14-d postweaning period that diarrhoea was observed
28 Weight
FF FC CF CC
2 4 6 8 10 12 Days post-weaning
14 16
▶ SUSTAINABILITY AND WELFARE | OCTOBER 2020
Percentage obs (%)
Feed intake
Number of days diarrhoea
Density
Weight (kg)
Feed conversion ratio
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