0
According to a study conducted for the Dutch Product Board for Livestock and Meat, the Dutch Product Board for Animal Feed and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the supply of milk during the first six days after weaning did increase the energy intake and daily gain of piglets in the first week after weaning and from weaning to day 35 but it did not reduce the number of piglets with clinical signs of Streptococcus suis (S. suis) infection. Furthermore, the supply of a pre-starter diet with a lower level of non-digestible crude protein and with higher levels of gelatinized corn, acids, coconut oil and fermentable non-starch polysaccharides did not improve the performance of the piglets but it reduced the number of piglets with clinical signs of an infection with S. suis.
During the study, a total of 320 weaned piglets (10 piglets per pen) were allotted in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment:
- Milk versus no milk: piglets received no milk after weaning or they received the first six days after weaning a milk product which was specially developed for this trial. All piglets received a pre-starter diet.
- Control pre-starter diet (diet A) versus an optimized pre-starter diet (diet B):piglets received the pre-starter diets the first 14 days after weaning. All piglets were then switched to the same starter diet.
Weaned piglets were followed from weaning till 35 days after weaning. Milk was supplied in a round through with 10 feeding places every two hours for the first three days after weaning and every four hours for the next three days. Milk supply decreased during the six days. The pre-starter and starter diet were provided ad libitum in a dry feeder with two feeding places.
Energy intake and daily gain in the first week after weaning were respectively 0.18 EW/d (0.49 versus 0.31 EW/d; 1 EW = 8.8 MJ NE) and 86 g/d (249 versus 163 g/d) higher in piglets that were fed milk during the first six days after weaning than piglets that received no milk. From weaning till day 35, energy intake (0.81 versus 0.75 EW/d) and daily gain (509 versus 476 g/d) were higher in milk fed piglets. The supply of milk after weaning did not reduce the number of weaned piglets with clinical signs of S. suis (7 piglets in both groups) infection The supply of pre-starter diet B did not improve the performance of the piglets but it reduced the number of weaned piglets with clinical signs of an infection with S. suis (11 versus 3 piglets) and the number of culled piglets (5 versus 1) compared to pre-starter diet A.
January 2012/ Energy intake and daily gain of weaned piglets fed milk after weaning/ PVE/ Netherlands.
http:www.pve.nl
