Piglets’ Feed Intake: A Real Challenge
By Ms Joëlle Faugeron, Pancosma
Weaning is a critical phase for piglets, a stressful period when they tend to reduce their feed intake. This can impair gut structure1
which
in turn impacts their health and performance. A smooth transition from liquid to solid feed ensures optimum growth and health, and can be achieved with the right sensory stimulation. Pigs are extremely sensitive animals, with many more sensory
receptors than humans. This means that adding flavour to feed is an effective way to attract piglets’ interest and inspire exploratory behaviour. Another way is the use of sweeteners which can further stimulate feed intake and foster gut maturation.
Piglets prefer berry fl avour to vanilla One way to optimize results is by finding the best flavour to catch piglets’ attention. Animals, and especially piglets, have a preference for certain smells and tastes. The trick is finding the right one. To compare the appeal of flavouring-sweetener combinations, the
feed intake of 1044 piglets was assessed for two weeks, directly after weaning at 20 days of age. The study compared two different flavour tonalities: milky vanilla vs. berry. Flavour doses were set at equivalent smell intensities. These two treatments (SUC+RF containing the berry flavouring and SUC+LV containing the milky vanilla flavouring) were compared to the control feed (CTRL) containing no flavouring or sweetener. In the study, feed containing a sweetener-flavouring combo,
whether berry or milky vanilla, improved the average daily feed intake (ADFI) of newly-weaned piglets compared to the control feed (Figure 1). As of the first week, the berry-flavoured feed demonstrated a significant edge in piglet appeal. This trend, in terms of numbers, continued during the second week of the trial. Over the entire phase, consumption of the SUC+RF treatment was significantly higher than CTRL or SUC+LV. This corroborates the general belief that berry flavours are piglets’ favorites which has also been observed in previous trials. It is interesting to note that the effect on feed intake during
week one was more visible on lightweight piglets (average initial body weight
̴ 5 kg) than on medium-weight (̴ 6 kg) and large
animals (̴ 7kg; results not shown). This shows that the benefits of adding well-chosen flavours are especially great for weak animals,
Better feed intake leads to better growth In the study, the sweetener-berry flavouring combination also improved Average Daily Gain (ADG) by 6 % compared to the control feed (Figure 2) over the trial period. The berry flavouring generated
improving their chances to catch up with heavier ones. By reducing variability within the barn, pig producers can better manage health and nutrition as well as tighten the marketing window from first cut to final clean of the barn.
Figure 1: ADFI during weeks 1 & 2 AFDI (g/d) AFDI During Week 1 P < 0.05
AFDI (g/d)
AFDI During Week 2
PAGE 46 MARCH/APRIL 2021 FEED COMPOUNDER
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