Nutritional strategies to limit the post-weaning growth check in young pigs

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted under commercial conditions to assess the influence of various nutritional strategies on the intestinal and immune development, survivability and performance of young pigs in the pre- and post-weaning phases. The nutritional strategies included an extruded creep feed product, amino acid supplementation, non-nutritional effects of creep feed, and the use of two nutraceutical products (spray-dried porcine plasma and a yeast derived protein meal). In the latter three experiments, dam parity was considered as a factor, so comparisons between the progeny of primiparous (P0) and multiparous (P2, 3, and 4) sows were examined. ... The results of these studies provide evidence that nutrition is a promising tool to enhance the intestinal and immune development, survivability and performance of young pigs in the pre- and post-weaning phases. The results also highlight the nutritional and non-nutritional roles of early nutrition in piglet development. Beyond providing nutrients for growth, early nutrition can promote feed intake, down-regulate the immune system, promote rapid stabilisation of gastrointestinal microbiota, and limit protein malnutrition.