Fermented liquid feed for pigs

Since the announcement of the ban on the use of antibiotics as antimicrobial growth promoters in the feed of pigs in 2006 the investigation towards alternative feed additives has augmented considerably. Although fermented liquid feed is not an additive, but a feeding strategy, the experimental work examining its possible advantages also saw a rise. The use of fermented liquid feed (FLF) has two main advantages, namely that the simultaneous provision of feed and water may result in an alleviation of the transition from the sow milk to solid feed and may also reduce the time spent to find both sources of nutrients, and secondly, that offering FLF with a low pH may strengthen the potential of the stomach as a first line of defence against possible pathogenic infections. Because of these two advantages, FLF is often stated as an ideal feed for weaned piglets. The results obtained so far are rather variable, but in general they show a better body weight gain and worse feed/gain ratio for the piglets. However, for growing-finishing pigs on average a better feed/gain ratio is found compared to pigs fed dry feed. This better performance is mostly associated with less harmful microbiota and better gut morphology. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge of FLF for pigs, dealing with the FLF itself as well as its effect on the gastrointestinal tract and animal performance

Effects of dose and formulation of carvacrol and thymol on bacteria and some functional traits of the gut in piglets after weaning

Two trials were conducted to study the effects of dose and formulation of carvacrol and thymol on bacterial counts, metabolites and functional traits of the gut in weaned piglets. In the first experiment (Exp. I), 25 piglets (28 d, 6.59 +/- 0.48 kg BW) were allocated to five dietary treatments: a control diet, or the same diet supplemented with either carvacrol or thymol at doses of 500 and 2000 mg kg(-1). In the second experiment (Exp. II), 35 piglets (28 d, 7.99 +/- 0.73 kg BW) were assigned to seven dietary treatments: the same control diet as in Exp. I, or this diet supplemented with thymol in one of three formulations (on celite, on alphacel or microencapsulated) at doses of 500 and 2000 mg kg(-1). At 11/12 days post-weaning piglets were euthanised, and digesta from stomach, proximal and distal small intestine were sampled for bacteriological and biochemical analysis. Small intestinal tissue was sampled for histomorphological determinations. In none of the experiments or sections of the gut was the number of bacteria lowered by the carvacrol or thymol supplementation. In Exp. I, the villus/crypt ratio at the distal small intestine for the experimental diets (1.30-1.32) was higher than for the control diet (1.24) (p < 0.05). Thymol fed animals in Exp. II had a lower number of intra-epithelial lymphocytes at the proximal (p < 0.05) and at the distal (p < 0.1) small intestine as compared to control animals. Mean concentration of the active ingredient in the stomach and proximal small intestine for the 2000 mg kg(-1) carvacrol diet was 521 and 5 mg kg(-1) fresh digesta, respectively, and for the 2000 mg kg(-1) thymol diets it ranged between 475 and 647 and between 13 and 24 mg kg(-1) fresh digesta, respectively. Cumulative absorption in the proximal small intestine was higher than 90% for all treatments and was not affected by formulation type. These data suggest that carvacrol and thymol can improve gut health, but evidence for clear antimicrobial effects towards the major culturable bacteria of the pig foregut is limited

Age post weaning but not birth weight and sex affects the small intestinal glutathione redox status of piglets

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Fermented liquid feed for weaned piglets : impact of sedimentation in the feed slurry on performance and gut parameters

In two experiments with weaned piglets, the effects of fermented liquid feed (FLF) (produced with probiotic strain Pediococcus acidilactici, Bactocell®, Lallemand S.A.S.) on performance and some bacteriological and morpho-histological parameters of the gut were investigated, and the impact of sedimentation of the solids in the FLF thereon. In experiment I, FLF or the same dry feed (DRY) was offered ad libitum for 28 days to two groups of 15 weaned piglets (28 days of age) each (3 replicates of 5 pigs). Performance was negatively affected by feeding FLF and concomitant with that the group fed the FLF diet showed shorter villi (501 vs 550 μm) and smaller crypts (264 vs 289 μm) in the small intestine at 3 m proximal to the caecum (P < 0.05). It was assumed that these poorer results were due to sedimentation of the solids in the FLF and therefore a second experiment was conducted with sepiolite (10 g/kg) added to the feeds. Sepiolite tends to slow down the segregation of particles in slurry. The three feeding groups (weaned piglets, 27 days of age) in this experiment were DRY, DRY with probiotic (DRY+), and FLF. The group fed FLF (body weight gain (BWG) 254 g/piglet day; feed : gain ratio 1.38) did now perform better (P < 0.05) than the groups fed the DRY (BWG 184 g/piglet/day; feed : gain ratio 1.52) and DRY+ (BWG 185 g/piglet/day; feed : gain ratio 1.48) diets, which did not differ. Villus length in the small intestine at 3 m proximal to the caecum was also higher for the group fed FLF (558 μm) compared with the group fed the DRY+ diet (490 μm; P < 0.05). It was concluded that feeding FLF is beneficial to freshly weaned piglets on condition that sedimentation of the solids in the feed slurry can be controlled