The benefits of flavour learning During the last decade, few scientific publications have demonstrated how an early ingestion of feed could be stimulated by facilitating information transfer from sow to piglets, both through flavour learning in utero and social learning. Scientists have evaluated if young animals could learn about flavours from the maternal diet that appear in the amniotic fluid and mother’s milk, and thus reduce neophobia for similarly flavoured food types at weaning. Flavour learning could be beneficial for piglets, which after the rather abrupt weaning in pig husbandry frequently show a period of anorexia, reduced health, and stress- induced behaviours. To validate their hypothesis, the research team set up the following experiment : Sows were offered anise-flavoured (F) or control (C) food during late gestation. Piglets were cross-fostered after birth, with each sow fostering five piglets from an F sow and five from a C sow. During lactation, sows were offered F or C food, resulting in FF, CF, FC and CC piglets. Piglets were weaned on day 25 and were given both control and flavoured food for two weeks using a double food choice approach (Figure 2). This is of course not a field evaluation or ‘real-life’ but these


results highlight some interesting opportunities: Scientists concluded that exposing piglets prenatally to anise flavour from the maternal diet resulted in a higher food intake in the first days after weaning, a higher growth post-weaning and a lower prevalence of stress-related behaviours and diarrhoea.


Improving wellbeing and performance Taken together, these experiments support the fact that supplementation of such new hybrid concepts can improve welfare of the young piglets and, in the meantime, improve piglet performance. Such all-in-one concepts involve multiple modes of action that stimulate intake, reduce stress of young animals after weaning and secure long-term performance. Obviously, these concepts are stable and easy to use in feed but also compliant with the local regulatory environment, for instance regarding ingredients authorised for piglets or sow. More importantly, the observed technical benefits were converted into return of investment to support the profitability of farms, indicating that these concepts represent also sustainable alternatives for the future of pig farming.


References available on request


▶ SUSTAINABILITY AND WELFARE | OCTOBER 2020


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