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Effects of various doses and combinations of phytonutrient and tributyrin on the performance of 55 to 85-week-old Hy-Line W36 laying hens
Authors: Mike Persia, E. Nicole Thetga, Nathaniel Barrett, Brian Glover, Jose Charal, Milan Hruby
Scientific Abstract:
An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of two feed additives and their combinations on late first-cycle laying hen performance and egg quality. The eight treatments were generated using a corn-soybean meal-dried distillers grains with solubles-poultry biproduct meal basal diet with the addition of feed additives on top. Treatments included the control diet (Con); Con + 50 g/MT of phyto nutrient Half (NH – phytonutrient); Con + 100 g/MT of phytonutrient Full (NF); Con + 250 g/MT tributyrin Half (DH – tributyrin); Con + 500 g/MT tributyrin Full (DF); Con + NH + DF (NHDH); Con + NF + DH (NFDH); Con + NF + DF (NFDF).
Each treatment was fed to 12 experimental units of 3 Hy-Line W-36 laying hens from 55 to 85 weeks of age. All hens were housed in battery cages (464.5 sq cm) and given ad libitum access to water and fed approximately 95 to 97 g/d. Repeated measures were used over time to increase replication. If ANOVA differences were noted (P ≤ 0.05), Fishers LSD were used to separate LS means. No interactions between treatment and time were noted indicating all responses were consistent over time. Performance parameters were different (P ≤ 0.05) with the exception of feed intake as that was controlled. Hen house (HHEP) and hen day egg production (HDEP) were generally not improved over the Con (75.6 and 76.7% respectively) with feed additive treatment (P > 0.05) with the exception of HHEP for hens fed DF (79.5%). The NF (63.1 g) and NFDF (63.1 g) increased egg weights in comparison to Con fed hens (61.7 g) with other treatments intermediate (P ≤ 0.05). Egg mass was increased over the Con fed birds (47.3 g/d) with the addition of NF (50.2 g/d: P ≤ 0.05) with DH, DF, NFDF resulting in intermediate responses. Feed efficiency was increased by NF (524 g/kg), DF (526 g/kg), NFDH (517 g/kg) in comparison to Con fed hens (494 g/kg) with DH intermediate (P ≤ 0.05).
Yolk color, Haugh units, yolk weight, egg shell breaking and egg specific gravity were not different than Con fed hens (P > 0.05). Hens fed DF resulted in increased albumen weight in comparison to Con fed hens, and hens fed NF and NFDF resulted in increased shell weights in comparison to Con fed hens.
Overall, the full doses of the phytonutrient and tributyrin combination increased 55 to 80 wk laying hen feed efficiency with mixed results from the combination of these products.
Production performance and gut cytoprotective response in laying hens fed with different phytogenic levels
Authors: Evangelos Anagnostopoulos , Ioannis Brouklogiannis , Vasileios Paraskeuas , Eirini Griela , Andreas Kern , Konstantinos C. Mountzouris
Scientific Abstract: The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of 5 dietary inclusion levels of a phytogenic feed additive (PFA) on production performance and on underlying inflammatory, detoxification, and antioxidant molecular mechanisms in the duodenum and the ceca of laying hens. The PFA was based on ginger, lemon balm, oregano, and thyme substances. A total of 385 20 wk-old Hy-line Brown layers were randomly assigned into 5 dietary treatments, with 7 replicates of 11 hens each, for a 12-week feeding trial. Experimental treatments received a corn-soybean meal basal diets with no PFA (CON) or supplementation with PFA at 500 (P500), 750 (P750), 1000 (P1000) and 1500 mg/kg diet (P1500), respectively. Layer egg mass, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were determined weekly and reported here on an overall performance basis. Duodenal and cecal intestinal samples from 32-wk-old layers were collected and stored deep frozen, until gene expression analysis with qPCR. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and statistical significance was determined at P<0.05. Linear and quadratic patterns of biological responses to PFA inclusion levels were studied via polynomial contrasts analysis.
Egg mass was significantly increased (P<0.01) with differences up to 4% in the P1000 group, compared to CON. At duodenum, increasing dietary PFA inclusion level down regulated (P<0.05) the expression of most of inflammatory and detoxifying genes involved in nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) signaling pathways, respectively. On the contrary, most of the antioxidant genes (8 out of 11) implicated in nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway were increased (P<0.05) with increasing PFA level, with P1000 being predominately higher than CON. Similarly, at cecal level most of the genes related to NF-kB (12 out of 15) and AhR (3 out of 6) pathway were down regulated (P<0.05), while those involved in the Nrf2 (4 out of 11) pathway were up regulated (P<0.05) with increasing PFA inclusion level with the higher expression levels obtained in treatments P1000 and P1500.
In conclusion, our research data demonstrate that PFA inclusion downregulated layer inflammatory and detoxification gene expression responses, whilst increasing the expression of antioxidant response genes along with an overall layer performance enhancement, with P1000 displaying optimal benefits.
Adaptation of pig production is needed to answer the customer demand for sustainably produced and high-quality products. Supplementation with a highly available zinc source can be a good strategy to reduce losses during chilling of the carcass and oxidation of cooked meat, retaining pork quality better over time about one third of global meat consumption is pork, only second after chicken. Due to its religious constraints and historic availability, the consumption of pork products varies widely between regions, but in both Europe and Asia it is the most consumed meat.
Author: Mieke Zoon, Product Manager, Minerals, published in Feed & Additive Magazine, July 2022
Recent research into feeding the growing global human population has highlighted the potential of pigs in the recycling of by-products (mainly food waste and co-products) for food production. Their ability to turn by-products into food and manure, pigs return nutrients back into the food production system that would otherwise be lost (2, 3).
Pork is often consumed in processed forms (minced meat, bacon, sausages, dry-cured or cooked ham and more), that have their origins related to preserving methods. Today, the main differentiation of pork products is made based on taste, origin and production standards. However, pork products still need to be attractive and made safe over time for consumers. Due to the variety in final products and changing preferences of the consumer, targeted meat quality can differ and may change over time .
The impact of several factors influencing meat quality in general and pork quality specifically have been studied in detail. For example, genetics, dietary lipid profile, preslaughter and slaughter conditions. More research is still needed to reduce oxidative stress in meat after slaughter as it affects its ability to be processed and stored. Examples of characteristics that are influenced by oxidative stress, are fat quality and water holding capacity (1).
Zinc is an essential nutrient for many physiological processes in the organism supporting health and good growth and development. Major functions of zinc on a cellular level are catching free radicals and preventing lipid peroxidation as part of the antioxidant system (5). Therefore, a deficiency of zinc in pigs may affect the pork quality after slaughter and processing.
A chemically well-defined range of metal glycinates (6) with scientifically proven results in major livestock species has already shown to be efficient to support pig production. By supplementing through- out the production cycle from gestating sows until slaughter of their progeny, sow fertility improved and piglets with low birth weight reduced, while growth performance and slaughter characteristics improved as well (7).
More specifically for pork quality, recent data shows that supplementing zinc from zinc-glycinate in the finishing phase of fattening pigs reduced the chilling losses of their carcasses after slaughter (Figure 1) (8).
The meat from pigs supplemented with zinc-glycinate showed less lipid peroxidation after cooking, especially with the lower dose of zinc-glycinate (Figure 2) (8). The lipid stability in cooked pork is essential for the quality and taste of cooked pork products.
Pork is and will be an important source of animal protein, and zinc can be part of a nutritional strategy to improve the quality of pork. Adaptation of pig production is needed to answer the customer demand for sustainably produced and high-quality products. Supplementation with a highly available zinc source can be a good strategy to reduce losses during chilling of the carcass and oxidation of cooked meat, retaining pork quality better over time.
Several research groups across the world are researching the challenge of enhancing resilience for heat tolerance in livestock.
Animal science turns to advancing resilience for heat tolerance
Author: Gwendolyn Jones, PhD, Product Manager Gut Agility Activators
Published in: Feed and Additive Magazine, June 2022
Several research groups across the world are researching the challenge of enhancing the resilience of livestock to climatic variability and change. Understanding adaptive mechanisms right down to cellular responses are key to finding technological solutions to advance animal nutrition in its supportive role in optimizing animal performance as the climate is heating up in many countries.
Scientists from leading agricultural universities in the UK, United States, India, Australia and the Netherlands all essentially agree, the adaptation to climate change requires technological advances for climate resilient animals in livestock production. On the other hand, continued selection for greater performance in the absence of consideration for heat tolerance will result in greater susceptibility to negative impacts from rising temperatures for productivity and animal welfare. This is due to the strong relationship between production level and metabolic heat production.
Researchers at the University of Armidale claim that for the concept of resilience the animal’s reactions with its environment are central. They describe resilience as the capacity of the animal to return rapidly to its pre-challenge situation. In other words, it is a comparative measure of differences between animals in the impact of a challenge they encounter. Researchers from Wageningen share a similar definition for resilience in farm animals. Thus, resilience relies on the animal’s response or better adaptability to naturally occurring stressors in its environment.
Several disciplines in animal production, including genetics, veterinary sciences and nutrition are currently striving to find ways of positively influencing resilience in farm animals. Better understanding the adaptive processes and finding ways to best measure improvements is integral to enhancing resilience in farm animals.
Animals have adaptive mechanisms to cope with rising temperatures, which involve morphological, behavioural and genetic capacity for change. Behavioural changes to rising ambient temperatures are seen in animals, include using shade whenever they have access to it and a reduction in feed intake.
The adaptive processes can further include physiological, neuro-endocrine and cellular responses. Some of the physiological parameters for adaptation to rising temperatures are respiration rate, pulse rate, skin temperature and sweating. However, there are differences between species in the expression of these characteristics. For example, poultry has the characteristics of rich feathers, no sweat glands, strong metabolism and high body temperature. As a result, the production performance of poultry is easily impacted by elevated ambient temperatures.
Research into the physiological changes accompanying high temperatures in tropically adapt- ed species is increasing the understanding of the mechanisms that the animal uses to accomplish the necessary functions effectively, and to find ways to support a more efficient response to minimize the negative impact on performance and animal well- being. Identifying relevant biomarkers in animals capable of maintaining high levels of productivity at high ambient temperatures will also help to breed for climate resilient animals.
Exposure to challenges, including environmental ones such as ambient temperatures above thermal comfort zones, induce adaptive responses that al- low cells and organisms to continue normal functions in the face of adverse stimuli. At the cellular level adaptive responses involve multiple changes in gene and protein expression, including induction of cellular defenses, e.g., antioxidants and heat shock proteins to enable the cell to survive.
On the other hand, exposure to challenges will increase cellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The balance between the generation of ROS and cellular antioxidants determines the level of oxidative stress, which again impacts the animal’s ability to attain performance potential and sustain good health.
A key cellular adaptation mechanism discovered in species surviving extreme environmental conditions is the enhanced expression of the cytoprotective system NRF2-KEAP1, which is involved in protection from oxidative stress, detoxification and protein homoeostasis. The nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (NRF2), is part of a complex regulatory network that responds to environmental cues. The subsequent evolution of cysteine-rich Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1) provided animals with a more sophisticated way to regulate NRF2 activity. Exposure to oxidants disrupts the interaction between NRF2 and KEAP1, which leads to translocation of NRF2 to the nucleus, which in turn increases the transcription of cytoprotective and antioxidative genes. This also leads to activating antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione and catalase.
A better understanding of the biological function, activation and regulation of NRF2-KEAP1 will help find ways of optimizing its activity for increased resilience in farm animals. Insights from in vitro studies carried out on hyperthermia treated bovine mammary epithelial cells demonstrated that the activation of NRF2 leading to upregulation of expression of downstream genes was associated in attenuating heat shock-induced cell damage.
To date it has been established that certain molecules including phytochemicals can activate NRF2. However, scientists also warn of arbitrarily activating the NRF2-KEAP1 pathway and call for more research into optimizing and properly timing interventions to the activity of NRF2. Peer reviewed exploratory research carried out to investigate the effect of a gut agility activator, based on bioactive substances derived from herbs and spices combined with functional carriers, showed that it increased the expression of critical genes of the NRF2-KEAP1 pathway in the gut of broilers. This coincided with increased levels of total antioxidant capacity in breast meat and in organs key to sustaining high productivity (e.g., gut, liver) in broilers. The study also highlighted the importance of evaluating different application levels, as the effects were dependent on inclusion levels.
The above insights suggest that nutritional technological advances involving phytogenic molecules, such as gut agility activators, could potentially play a supportive function in enhancing resilience of poultry. Further research is required under temperatures above the thermal comfort zone and to confirm the positive impact on recognized resilience performance indicators.
Frequent monitoring reveals poultry resilience indicator
Free Ebook 3 steps to greater resilience in poultry
Animal Resilience – Economic value in livestock production
presented at ADSA 2022
American Dairy Science Association, June 20th, 2022, 10:15am
Abstract
by Acetoze G.; Preisinger, K.
A recent study suggests that rumen protected capsicum (RPC) is capable of decreasing blood insulin concentrations (Oh et al., 2017). This decrease could potentially lead to repartitioning of available glucose towards the mammary gland for milk production.
The objective of this study was to evaluate early lactation performance of dairy cows fed RPC during the transition period on a commercial robotic dairy in Indiana. One hundred and five (105) Holstein dairy cows were randomly assigned to two treatments as they entered the pre-fresh pen (-21 days relative to calving): Control (no additive) and Treatment (RPC at 1 g/hd/d). All cows received the same TMR’s (pre-fresh or fresh). RPC was orally administered daily in the pre-fresh pen and provided in the robot grain, manufactured by a commercial feed mill, at the dairy through 60 DIM. The study was conducted beginning in July 2020 and ended in February 2021. Measurements included blood glucose, daily milk yield and components (fat and protein). Statistical analysis was performed using the Repeated Measures model procedure of JMP16 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC).
Energy corrected milk (ECM) and milk yield were significantly (P<0.01) increased (114.5 vs 124.3 lbs/hd/d for ECM and 42.1 vs 44.7 kg/hd/d, control vs treatment, respectively) through 60 DIM for RPC cows. Milk fat (kg/hd/d) was also greater (P<0.01) for RPC cows compared to control (2.04 vs 1.86, respectively). No differences were observed for blood glucose levels (P=0.94). However there was a tendency (P=0.10) for RPC treated multiparous cows to have increased blood glucose 3 days after calving. These results indicate that transition cows supplemented with RPC may have more available glucose available for milk synthesis.
Pancosma Phytogenic Bioactives
About the presenter
Gabriela Acetoze, PhD, Ruminant Technical Manager at ADM Animal Nutrition.
Gabriela’s role at ADM involves supporting customer sales, assisting and managing field trials developing data to support sales of ADM Feed Additives and Ingredients and providing internal and external technology trainings. Also, she works closely with the marketing, product management and research teams to help develop, manage and support sales efforts primarily in North America.
Gabriela received her doctorate degree in Animal Biology from University California, Davis where she studied the effects of different feeding strategies on mitochondrial efficiency and proton leak of Holstein dairy cows. She has also earned a master’s degree in Animal Biology at UC Davis investigating the differences of finishing beef cattle on grain or grass finished diets. Gabriela has a BS in Agricultural Engineering from ESALQ – University of Sao Paulo. She started her career as a National Account Manager also for ADM Animal Nutrition developing the sales of ADM Specialty Ingredients in California, Arizona and PNW.
Life cycle assessment (LCA), or life cycle analysis, gauges the environmental impact associated with all stages of a commercial products. These metrics will grow increasingly valuable as animal protein producers look to reduce their footprint and look to animal feed formulations to help them do so.
Pierre-Joseph Paoli, president of feed additives and ingredients within ADM Animal Nutrition shares his views on how ingredient and additive life cycle assessments help determine, improve feed sustainability in an interview with the editor of Feed Strategy from WATT.
Paoli highlights a difference when it comes to life cycle analysis of feed additives:”What is a little bit different about feed additives versus some other products is that while, of course, we look at scope one and scope two, the scope three, which is the emissions afterwards in the value chain, tend to be negative with the feed additives. And that is very interesting, because it means there’s a return on environmental investment, if you will, for those kinds of products.”
Pierre-Joseph Paoli will also present his talk, “How feed ingredient analysis supports a more sustainable value chain,” at the 2022 VIV LIVE Feed Congress on May 30 at 1.45-2.15 PM.
Resiliencia de la producción lechera: 3 razones para mantener a sus vacas ágiles
El entorno competitivo para la producción lechera requiere estrategias de gestión de la granja para sistemas de producción resilientes que puedan recuperarse o adaptarse a cambios en las condiciones ambientales, sociales o económicas. Probablemente no haya un momento como la actual crisis de Covid 19 que demuestre cuán importante es la resiliencia para los sistemas de producción.
La resiliencia se aplica a la granja, pero también a los animales individuales. Varios programas de investigación en diferentes partes del mundo estánestudiando formas de mejorar genéticamente la resiliencia en las vacas lecheras. La capacidad de recuperación de la vaca está determinada por su capacidad de adaptación, que es el mecanismo de la vaca que la capacita para hacer frente a perturbaciones internas o externas, factores estresantes o cambios en el medio ambiente.
Estas son las principales razones para encontrar formas de mejorar la capacidad de adaptación en vacas lecheras o, en otras palabras, para mantener ágiles a las vacas lecheras.
Las reacciones de estrés comunes a los estresores en la alimentación y en el medio ambiente son el estrés oxidativo, la inflamación a nivel celular, los cambios en la eficiencia del rumen y la reducción de consumo de alimento. Todos conducirán al desperdicio de energía y al aumento de la energía de mantenimiento o una reducción en la ingesta de energía, lo que nuevamente tendrá consecuencias para el rendimiento y la calidad de la leche. Mejorar la capacidad de adaptación de las vacas lecheras ayudará a reducir las reacciones de estrés en respuesta a los desafíos y factores estresantes y, por lo tanto, el impacto que pueden tener en la producción y la calidad de la leche. Como resultado, hay menos fluctuaciones y menos desviaciones de la productividad y calidad esperadas de la leche, lo que también significa un ingreso más estable para el productor lechero.
El período de transición es un momento exigente para las vacas lecheras y cuando fallan en adaptarse fisiológicamente a las demandas del parto y el inicio de la producción lechera, el estrés metabólico resultante conduce a trastornos de la vaca de transición con consecuencias negativas para la producción de leche, la eficiencia de la reproducción y la longevidad. Mejorar la capacidad de adaptación en las vacas lecheras puede permitir que la vaca lechera resista el período de transición con más éxito.
Uno de los mayores problemas de las granjas lecheras hoy en día es atraer mano de obra calificada. A los agricultores les resulta difícil lograr que las personas trabajen en granjas. Es aún más difícil obtener mano de obra doméstica y muchos productores lecheros dependen de trabajadores extranjeros dentro de su fuerza laboral. Entonces, la crisis de Covid 19 y las nuevas leyes de inmigración pueden exacerbar la escasez de mano de obra calificada en las granjas lecheras. La escasez de mano de obra calificada significa que cuidar de la salud de las vacas y su rendimiento óptimo se vuelve más desafiante. Una solución a esto es criar y administrar vacas resistentes que sean más fáciles de manejar. Alimentar para mejorar la capacidad de adaptación para aumentar la resiliencia en las vacas lecheras puede hacer una diferencia en la cantidad de cuidado que requiere una vaca y, por lo tanto, en la cantidad de mano de obra necesaria en la granja.
Los nuevos conceptos nutricionales, como los activadores de agilidad intestinal, están diseñados para apoyar la capacidad de adaptación y mantener a los animales ágiles por medios nutricionales para mejorar la resiliencia.
La apuesta más segura para mantenerse a usted y a sus vacas en el juego ante la imprevisibilidad y el cambio es apoyar y administrar la capacidad de adaptación de sus vacas y de usted mismo. En otras palabras, la agilidad o la capacidad de adaptarse a los desafíos y el cambio es clave para el éxito a largo plazo. Mantenerse abierto al aprendizaje continuo y a las nuevas tecnologías ayudará a mantenerse ágil. Repensar cómo criamos y alimentamos a las vacas para fomentar la resiliencia mantendrá a las vacas ágiles. Ya existen excelentes tecnologías que pueden ayudar a monitorear el progreso que hacemos en este sentido.
By Oguey, C., Thayer, M., Jones, D. and Samson, A.
A meta-analysis was carried out to determine whether feeding an inactivated Pichia guilliermondii yeast (Pg) to sows during gestation and lactation had the potential to consistently affect sow reproductive performance and performance of progeny from birth through the post-weaning period. Experiments included were randomized trials reporting side by side comparisons of an appropriate control with inclusion of Pg. Mixed model (Trial as random and Treatment as fixed effects) and Hedges’ g effect size (ES) calculations were used. After systematic review and exclusion phase, analysis included 8 trials for reproductive performance at birth and until weaning (1446 sows), as well as for progeny performance after weaning (2452 piglets). Sensitivity of results to individual trials was evaluated. Publication bias was assessed by creation of funnel plots and by performing Begg’s test. In case of publication bias, the Trim and Fill method was used. Pg dose ranged from 1 to 2 kg/t and did not influence the effect of the product on the outcomes. Overall, Pg increased number of piglets born alive per sow (+3.5%, P(ES) < 0.01), and did not influence survival during suckling (P(ES) = 0.89), resulting in more piglets weaned per sow (+3.0%, P(ES) < 0.01). When Pg was fed to sows during gestation and lactation, a carryover effect was observed for progeny after weaning (mean weight of 6.1 kg and age of 20.5 days at weaning). Piglets born from Pg supplemented sows had higher survival rate (+2.3%, P(ES) = 0.06), weight gain (+5.7%, P(ES) = 0.04), and numerically better FCR (-3.0%, P(ES) < 0.11) through the post-weaning phase (mean duration: 34.4 days). This carry-over effect may be related to fetal immune programming properties during gestation. Feeding Pg to sows during gestation and lactation can represent a nutritional tool to consistently improve sow reproductive performance, and pig performance after weaning.
About the presenter
Clementine Ogue, Msc., New solutions & Sustainability Manager, ADM Animal Nutrition
Following graduation with a Master degree in Agrofood and Health from French Engineering school ISAB (now called UniLasalle), Clementine Ogue joined Pancosma and the feed additives’ business 15 years ago. After having worked in applied research, technical product management & expertise, and business development for all products of the company portfolio. Clementine then worked for 4 years in a position of EMEA Technical Manager for Feed Additives Business Unit of ADM. Since the beginning of 2022, she joined the Business Development team as New Solutions and Sustainability manager of Feed Additives, in ADM Animal Nutrition.
As the zinc oxide ban (June 2022) is literally just around the corner pig producers in the European Union are forced to take a fresh look at feeding and supporting pigs during their most stressful period of their life. History tells us taking a fresh look at things and keeping an open mind, quite often paves the way for much bigger and better things ahead. Maybe that is the attitude to bear in mind as we embark on a new chapter in European pig production.
by Gwendolyn Jones
Effective June 2022, the maximum level of zinc permitted in the feed will reduce to 150 ppm in the European Union. As a result, using high level of zinc oxide in the feed will no longer be acceptable. The marketing authorizations for veterinary medicinal products containing high levels of zinc oxide (2000ppm or more) prescribed by veterinarians, which were used to ease the weaning process and manage post-weaning diarrhea will be withdrawn by June 2022.
ZnO can still be used as a feed additive after this date, but only at the maximum permitted dose rate of 150 ppm total dietary zinc. This is still higher than the physiological requirements of weaned piglets. The requirement for Zn supplementation in the diet of weaned piglets decreases from 100 to 60 ppm when their body weight increases from 5 to 50 kg.
The decision to ban pharmacological doses of ZnO for piglets was made because more recent reports demonstrated its contribution to environmental pollution and increase in antimicrobial resistance.
Although to date the EU is imposing the strictest regulations on ZnO in piglet production, other markets are also starting to reduce the levels of ZnO in piglet diets. For example, Canada has already announced its plan to reduce the levels allowed to 3o0ppm and others are likely to follow suit in the future.
Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) due to Escherichia coli is an economically important disease in pig production worldwide, affecting pigs during the first 2 weeks after weaning. It is one of the main reasons why pig farmers are using pharmacological levels of zinc oxide. The biggest issues associated with PWD in piglets are reduced growth rates, followed by increased finishing times and mortality.
Not being able to prevent PWD in piglets could therefore result in significant financial losses to the farmer and reduction of the wellbeing of the pigs.
Weaning is one of the most stressful periods in a pig’s life. Removed from the sow and confronted with dietary changes, having to adapt to a new environment, mixing of pigs from other litters and/or farms can lower the immune response and feed intake and thus make piglets more vulnerable to infectious diseases. The ability to cope with these stressors will also determine the susceptibility of the pig to PWD.
This means that farmers need to take extra care to prepare piglets for weaning and develop multifactorial approaches for a smoother transition if they can no longer rely on the use of pharmacological doses of ZnO post weaning.
Just as being open to new ways of doing things and learning about new things is critical, so is an understanding how we got to where we are now. Talk to your veterinarian and trusted nutritional advisors. Gain different perspectives from outside to plot a strategy for a new path forward. Ideally it should be more holistic, combining optimal nutrition and best practices in biosecurity, management and health programs. This includes optimal management of sows and piglets during the lactation period to optimize resilience in pigs at weaning. There is no silver bullet to replace zinc oxide and each plan should be farm-specific.
Join the Pancosma webinar hosted by Misset to learn about synergistic alternative approaches to pharmacological levels of zinc oxide in piglet diets. If you missed the date of our webinar, you will be able to view a recording of the webinar on demand.