Does the newly weaned piglet select a zinc oxide supplemented feed, when given the choice?

Abstract

animal Does the newly weaned piglet select a zinc oxide supplemented feed, when given the choice? An experiment was conducted to examine whether weaned piglets would display preference for a food containing a pharmacological level of zinc oxide (ZnO). A total of 60 piglets were weaned at 7.8 kg 6 0.14 (s.e.m.) and 27.8 6 0.11 days of age into eight mixed sex groups of seven or eight piglets per pen. Groups were balanced for litter origin, weaning weight and sex. Piglet feeding behaviour was constantly recorded by a multi-spaced feeding behaviour recording system (Leeds University Feeding Behaviour System) in each pen. Each pen of pigs was offered ad libitum access to two different foods (16.2 MJ digestible energy, 16 g lysine/kg), which differed only in the level of ZnO supplementation: unsupplemented (U) or supplemented (Z; ZnO 3100 mg/ kg). Both foods contained a basal level of zinc (100 mg/kg). Feeding time was recorded for each individual at each trough. Piglets were weighed at weaning and at 7 and 13 days thereafter. The experiment ran for 13 days. Any piglet observed with post-weaning scour (Y) was recorded and treated appropriately whereas healthy piglets were categorised as N (no scour). Preference for a food was defined as being significantly different from 50% of total feed intake or time spent feeding. There was no difference between piglet numbers selecting each food as their first meal. However, within the first 24 h, piglets preferred (P , 0.001) food U, spending only 36.3% (32.2 to 40.5; 95% confidence interval) of feeding time at food Z. Throughout the experiment, piglets showed aversion (P , 0.001) to food Z, consumption being 8.9% (5.1 to 13.6) and 15.7% (8.9 to 23.9) of total intake in weeks 1 and 2, respectively. Individual piglets showed their preference for food U with only 16.6% (14.6 to 18.5) and 21.8% (19.6 to 24.0) of feeding time spent on food Z in weeks 1 and 2, respectively. Scouring piglets did not show any difference in feeding behaviour from healthy piglets in either week. Average piglet gain (of all piglets) was low, at 0.039 6 0.03 and 0.272 6 0.04 kg/day in weeks 1 and 2, respectively. Given a choice, weaned piglets showed a clear preference for the food U even when exhibiting post-weaning scour. It can be concluded that the newly weaned, naïve, piglet is not able to recognise a food with clear health and performance benefits but selected the food U due to the reduced palatability of the food Z.

Determination of the Optimal Level of Dietary Zinc for Newly Weaned Pigs: A Dose-Response Study

“…The quadratic effect of dietary Zn content on feed intake may relate to the influence of Zn on the palatability of feed. Reynolds et al [ 52 ] found that, when pigs weaned at day 28 were given the choice between a Zn unsupplemented diet and a diet supplemented with 3100 mg Zn/kg (as ZnO), up to 91 % of the total feed consumption was of the unsupplemented diet. Zhang and Guo [ 53 ] and Yin et al [ 54 ] found a higher concentration of circulating ghrelin in pigs (24–28 days of age) fed a 2000 mg Zn/kg diet compared to a 100–130 mg Zn/kg diet.…”

Effect of Maternal Flavour Conditioning Combined with Organic and Inorganic Iron-Supplemented Creep Feed on Piglet Performance and Haemoglobin Status

“…This adverse response of piglets to oral iron supplementation has been previously reported by Svodoba and Drabek [18] as they demonstrated insufficient voluntary intake of inorganic iron supplements that resulted in numerous cases of piglet IDA. Anise has been reported to act as a masking agent [27], which could have suppressed the aversive taste associated with oral iron supplements [34] and standardised creep feed intake across all treatments. The disappearance of creep feed throughout lactation in this study corroborates with the comparable studies [35] as piglets made minimal use of creep feed in the early days of life (100-150 g/day), but this gradually rose to 400 g/day around weaning (day 25 of life).…”

Alternative to ZnO to establish balanced intestinal microbiota for weaning piglets

“…Many studies proved that dietary supplementation with high levels of ZnO effectively suppressed the growth of E . coli and other coliform bacteria in weaning piglets [ 8 – 10 ]. However other studies showed adverse effects of high dietary ZnO, such as reducing the numbers of intestinal beneficial bacteria, or increasing environmental zinc emissions [ 11 – 13 ].…”