Small intestine growth and morphometry in piglets weaned at 7 days of age. Effects of level of energy intake

Marion, Julia; Biernat, M.; Thomas, Francoise; Savary, Gérard; Breton, Yves; Zabielski, R.; Huërou-Luron, Isabelle Le; Dividich, Jean Le

doi:10.1051/rnd:2002030

Cited by 65 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Low energy intake at weaning is the most important factor affecting small intestine villous height of piglets after weaning (Marion et al, 2002), and has known negative effects on the piglets' metabolism, growth and health (Le Dividich and Sè ve, 2000;Dong and Pluske, 2007), thus being a major welfare issue. The distress associated with the separation from the sow and the inexperience with ingestion of solid feed at this age possibly underlie the low feeding behaviour during the first days after weaning, with a stronger effect on the youngest group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Hötzel

Filho

Irgang

et al. 2010

Animal

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Age at weaning affects the behaviour of piglets weaned in conventional confined environments. The adaptation of piglets to this event, which exposes piglets to important stressors, has not been examined in detail in outdoor systems. The aim of this study was to compare the behaviour of piglets weaned at 3 or 4 weeks of age in an outdoor production system. Six replicates of four piglets born and raised outdoors, originated from different litters but previously acquainted, were weaned at the age of approximately 20 (D20) or 30 (D30) days in 36 m 2 outdoor pens and offered high-quality diets. Their behaviour was recorded by direct visual observation during four consecutive days after weaning (days 1 to 4). Data were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA. An effect of weaning age was observed on feeding and rooting ( P , 0.01), and a day-by-weaning age interaction for escape attempts, vocalizing, walking and fighting ( P , 0.01), and playing ( P , 0.03). Compared to D30 piglets, D20 piglets showed a higher frequency of escape attempts on day 1, vocalized more during days 1 and 2, and walked more during days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). Feeding behaviour, on the other hand, was higher in D30 piglets on days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). On days 3 and 4, D30 piglets spent more time interacting with peers (playing and fighting; P , 0.05) and on day 4 were more active than D20 piglets ( P , 0.05). As previously reported in confined environments, age at weaning affected the behaviour of piglets raised on the outdoors system. Weaning appeared to be more stressful for the piglets at 3 than at 4 weeks of age. The impact of weaning age on welfare cannot be ignored, especially when outdoor breeding of pigs is proposed to address welfare concerns of the public.Keywords: pig, housing, social, ingestive, welfare ImplicationsIncreasing the age at weaning from 3 to 4 weeks improves the welfare of piglets reared outdoors by reducing distress behaviours and improving feeding behaviour. This is relevant considering that a key reason for rearing pigs in outdoor environments is to address ethical concerns of consumers regarding the wellbeing of the animals. IntroductionConventional weaning in the pig industry involves exposing young piglets to several concomitant stressors: transfer to a novel environment; separation from the sow and littermates, often mixing with unknown peers; and the loss of the main source of nutrition, i.e. milk. Because this is done without a period of transition necessary to make the solid feed attractive to the piglets, weaning generally is followed by a period of low feed intake (Weary et al., 2008). Additionally, at this age the digestive system of the piglets is not adapted to digest solid feed, which predisposes the young animals to diarrhoea and secondary infections (Dong and Pluske, 2007). In order to overcome this problem, diets especially designed for the digestive system of very young piglets have been formulated (Dritz et al., 1996). However, because the behaviour of piglets weaned at very young ages indicates distress an...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Hötzel

Filho

Irgang

et al. 2010

Animal

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“…So, we did not exclude that structural alterations might have occurred earlier. Indeed, Marion et al, (2002) showed that after weaning villous atrophy was first noticed in the proximal part of the small intestine. The restoration of the upper part of intestinal mucosa architecture was then noticed at the same time that villous atrophy concerns the distal part.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We investigated descriptive parameters of intestine, both structural, such as weight parameters and morphology, and functional, such as mucosal enzyme activities. Modifications of these criteria were previously found to be associated with developmental alteration, for example, at weaning (Marion et al, 2002;Montagne et al, 2007) or in total parenteral feeding (Goldstein et al, 1985;Adeola et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intestinal development and growth performance of early-weaned piglets fed a low-threonine diet

Hamard

Sève

Floc'H

2007

Animal

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High dietary threonine extraction by the digestive tract suggests that threonine contributes to maintain gut integrity. The aims of this study were to investigate the intestine development and the growth performance of early-weaned piglets pair-fed either a control well-balanced (C: 9.3 g threonine/kg diet) or a low-threonine diet (LT: 6.5 g threonine/kg diet) for 2 weeks. As expected, LT piglets presented lower plasma free threonine compared with C piglets (118 v. 356 6 12 mmol/l, P , 0.001). Dietary threonine supply altered neither growth performance nor growth of the intestine and of the other portal-drained viscera (stomach, spleen and pancreas). Nevertheless, villus height was reduced in the ileum of the LT piglets compared with C piglets (446 v. 714 6 74 mm, P , 0.05). This was also associated with a decrease in crypt width (P , 0.05) and villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (P , 0.05). Whereas maltase and lactase activities did not change between the two groups, aminopeptidase nitrogen activity was decreased in the ileum of LT piglets (269 v. 374 6 27 IU/mg protein, P , 0.05). The number of mucincontaining goblet cells was not modified in the ileum and in the proximal part of the large intestine of the LT piglets compared with the C piglets. In conclusion, despite no alteration of intestinal growth, villus hypotrophy associated with a reduction of aminopeptidase nitrogen activity suggest an alteration of the structure of the ileum in early-weaned piglets fed a diet supplying inadequate dietary threonine.

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“…Samples were micro-dissected under binocular optical. According to the technique of Goodlad et al [10], villi and crypt sizes were measured as reported [11].…”

Section: Structural Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a bovine colostrum-supplemented diet on some gut parameters in weaned piglets

et al. 2006

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-The present study investigated the effects of a bovine colostrum-supplemented diet on gut post-weaning adaptation and health in piglets. Thirty-six 21-d-old piglets were allocated to one of the three following dietary treatments: sow-reared (SR), weaned on a control starter diet (WCtrl) or on a starter diet supplemented with bovine colostrum (WCol) until slaughter at 28 d or 35 d of age. Gastric pH and intestinal bacteriological, structural and functional parameters were determined. Compared to WCtrl, the gastric pH was lower (P < 0.05) and the duodenal lactobacilli:coliform ratio was higher (P = 0.05) in WCol piglets. The relative small intestine weight was 18% (P < 0.05) higher in WCol piglets than in SR piglets. Duodenal villous height was lower (P < 0.01) in WCtrl than in SR piglets, whereas the value for WCol piglets was intermediate. The weaning-increased crypt cell proliferation was not affected by bovine colostrum supplementation. The mucosal ribosomal capacity was higher (P < 0.05) in W than in SR piglets. In conclusion, a diet supplemented with colostrum induced, although not always significantly, variations of gut parameters, suggesting that globally, colostrum may limit weaning-induced gut structural and microbial alterations. The observed effects occurred early and were maintained throughout the post-weaning adaptive phase. bovine colostrum / intestine / microflora / mucosa growth / weaning

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Small intestine growth and morphometry in piglets weaned at 7 days of age. Effects of level of energy intake

Cited by 65 publications

References 42 publications

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Intestinal development and growth performance of early-weaned piglets fed a low-threonine diet

Effects of a bovine colostrum-supplemented diet on some gut parameters in weaned piglets

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