Milk intake and carbon dioxide production of piglets determined with the doubly labelled water technique

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to study different methodological aspects of quantifying CO 2 production and milk intake of suckling piglets using the doubly labelled water (DLW) technique. In total, 37 piglets were enriched intraperitoneally with DLW to study equilibration time of 18 O (n 5 3), to validate the estimation of milk intake and CO 2 production (n 5 10) of piglets fed milk replacer and to quantify milk intake and CO 2 production of piglets nursed ordinarily by sows (n 5 24). Enrichment of 18 O in expired air was analysed without any sample preparation, whereas enrichment of 18 O in serum was analysed after a minimum step of sample preparation, which included pipetting of the sample, blowing gaseous CO 2 into the vial for 3 s and equilibrating for 24 h. The 18 O enrichment of CO 2 in expired air was constant within 30-40 min of intraperitoneal injection, suggesting that DLW was equilibrated within the body water by that time. For piglets fed milk replacer, the estimation of the daily CO 2 production by the DLW method (64.0 6 2.7 l CO 2 /day) was in agreement with that obtained by respiration trials (64.7 6 1.8 l CO 2 /day). Furthermore, the intake of milk replacer (891 6 63 g/day) determined by deuterium oxide (D 2 O) dilution was similar in magnitude to that found by weighing the milk disappearance (910 6 58 g/day). The milk intake of piglets fed milk replacer was comparable with that of sucking piglets, but sucking piglets had a remarkably higher CO 2 production than artificially reared piglets, which likely was caused by a higher intake of milk solids and a higher activity level. For sucking piglets, the daily CO 2 production increased curvilinearly with increasing live weight (LW) in kg: piglet CO 2 production (l/day) 5 25.75 3 LW 2 1.01 3 LW 2 . In conclusion, 18 O equilibrates fast within the body water pool when administered intraperitoneally, and the accuracy of assessing milk intake and rate of CO 2 production using the DLW technique is promising. Assessment of excess enrichment of 18 O in serum proved to be robust. Finally, the CO 2 production of piglets fed milk replacer differs considerably from that of sucking piglets.

Suckling Induces Differential Gut Enzyme Activity and Body Composition Compared to Feeding Milk Replacer in Piglets

“…The estimated feed intakes are shown in Table 2. 1 Based on averages of days 10-13 and days 17-20 [12]. 2 Based on the average supplementation at days 10, 17, and 24.…”

“…Several studies have suggested that, in addition to age, the main driver for gut maturation is dry matter (DM) intake rather than a specific nutrient composition [ 12 ]. In some conventional pig production systems, creep feed is provided to accommodate the piglets to a vegetable-based diet prior to weaning, thereby potentially also increasing the activity of certain disaccharidases.…”

Influence of l‐carnitine and l‐arginine on protein synthesis and maturation of the semitendinosus muscle of lightweight piglets

“…In addition, it is also evident that homemade milk replacers previously used in research (Kim & Wu, ; Yao et al., ) are suboptimal when comparing fat, protein and energy content and amino acid composition of the one used in the present study with the composition of the sow milk analysed (Table ). Thus, when daily amount of milk consumed does not differ between artificially reared and suckling piglets, it would naturally result in greater ADG of suckling piglets (Theil et al., ). However, despite the suboptimal milk replacer diet applied in this study, artificial rearing resulted in similar weaning weight when compared with conventionally reared piglets with similar birthweight (6.3 vs. 6.7 kg).…”

“…Applying milk replacer to early-weaned piglets has been shown to improve daily gain of medium and heavy birthweight piglets (Zijlstra, Whang, Easter, & Odle, 1996), suggesting it to be a viable alternative to insufficient sow milk yield. However, one important disadvantage of available commercial milk replacers is the suboptimal nutrient and amino acid composition compared with the sows' milk (Mavromichalis, Parr, Gabert, & Baker, 2001;Theil, Kristensen, Jorgensen, Labouriau, & Jakobsen, 2007). Being important for growth (Kim & Wu, 2004), the semi-essential amino acid arginine (ARG) is involved in the protein synthesis signalling pathway of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) (Yao et al, 2008).…”

Estimating Ventilation Rates of Animal Houses through CO2 Balance

“…Nevertheless, in the laying hen, steer, and dairy cow studies, the modeled CO 2 production rates had little variation due to stable body weights during the experiments. Most of the variation in the measured CO 2 production rates in these studies was not captured by the model, although average values of the Pederson et al, 2008;Zheng et al, 2006;Zhao et al, 2001;Pedersen and Thomsen, 2000;Jørgensen et al, 1996b;Jørgensen et al, 1990. [c] Pederson et al, 2008;Eerden et al, 2006;Li et al, 2005;Parmentier et al, 2002;Mashaly et al, 2000. [d] Bolhuis et al, 2008;Pederson et al, 2008;Hansen et al, 2007;Jørgensen et al, 2007;Theil et al, 2007;Blanes and Pedersen, 2005;Chwalibog et al, 2004;Sousa and Pedersen, 2004;Wang et al, 2004;Gerrits et al, 2001;Jørgensen et al, 2001;Jørgensen, 1998;Jørgensen et al, 1997;Jørgen-sen et al, 1996a;Jørgensen et al, 1996c. [a] (2) Modeled CO 2 Production Rates (mL s -1 head -1 ) [a] (2)/(1) [a] Values are means ± standard deviations.…”