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A total of one hundred and ninety-eight 26-d-old weaned piglets were used. Pigs were offered one of 3 dietary treatments: no additional sweetener (control), 150 mg of sweetener (C-150) or 150 mg of sweetener (3D). The major differences between the two sweeteners were their concentration in sodium saccharine (less for 3D) and the inclusion rate of taste enhancers and texturizing agents. The ADFI was determined per pen for d 0 to 5, 5 to 12 and 12 to 19. Piglets were randomly assigned to 18 pens, three replicates of 6 pens. The individual feed intake characteristics consisting of latency time (time to first feed contact), initial feed intake (intake during the first 24 h following the first feed intake), the number of total visits per day and feed intake per visit was recorded.
It was observed that the initiation of feed intake was not affected by the addition of high intensity sweeteners to the diet. The increased percentage of visits to the feeder with feed intake at 12 days post weaning observed by piglets fed 3D sweetener thant those fed the control diet (P<0.05) showed that dietary sweeteners caused the piglets to focus more on feed intake and less on exploratory behaviour. Dietary sweeteners prevented the depression of feed intake on days 8 and 10 postweaning (P<0.05) coinciding with an improved fecal concistency score in days 12 and 19 postweaning (P<0.001).
It is concluded that a certain period of time is required before observing a clear effect of dietary sweeteners on individual feed intake characteristics and performance.
A Sterk, P Schlegel, AJ Mul, M Ubbink-Blanksma and EMAM Bruininx. 2008. Journal of Animal Science , 86: 2990-2997.
