Utilizing yeast in sow diets to optimize piglet growth
How can feed impact weaning?
By Brenda Christensen, Hagen Schulze, Elijah Kiarie and Lee-Anne Huber
The post-weaning period is one of the most critical periods throughout the production cycle for pigs as it is a time of many compounding stressors. Poor adaptation during this period can lead to lasting digestive and immunological disturbances that can be seen for the rest of that animal’s life. Improving the post-weaning period by using feed additives can yield variable results due to low and variable feed intake that is typical of a weaned pig. Therefore, nutritionists must be strategic with feed additive timing to elicit and positive response.
Who should we target? Sow vs. pigletPrior to weaning the main source of nutrients for piglets is the sow. Previous work looking at creep feed forms has shown that the sow remains the most important source of nutrients for piglets. During lactation the sow can impact the health and growth of a piglet in several ways including nutrients, immunoglobulins and growth factors supplied in the milk, the transfer of their microbiome during birth, suckling or in their shared environment. These factors influence how much weight the piglet can gain during lactation and how competent their immune system is. When these factors work together it can improve piglet performance post-weaning.
Unlike piglets, sow feed intake is greater and more consistent. Additives supplied in sow diets are also capable of influencing their offspring. This makes the sow a favorable choice when evaluating feed additives.
Yeast additives in many forms are gaining traction in the feed additives markets for their wide array of functional components including mannan oligosaccharides and β-glucans. These components of yeast can interact with the host’s immune system and microbiome.
Current research The purpose of this study was to determine the inclusion level of yeast to supplement to late gestating and lactating first parity sows that would improve offspring suckling growth performance and immunoglobulin transfer. To do this, experimental diets were fed from day 85 of gestation until weaning (approx. 21 days after parturition). The diets that were provided were either a control (HY0) standard gestation and lactation diet or one supplemented with 0.25 (HY0.25), 0.5 (HY0.5). 1.0 (HY1.0) or 1.2% (HY1.2) inclusion of the hydrolyzed yeast. Gilts had feed intake (during gestation daily, and during lactation was recorded by phase) and body weights (d 85 and 110 of gestation, and day 1 and 21 after farrowing) recorded, and offspring were weighed on day 1 and 21 of age. Litters were standardized to 12 piglets per sow and did not have access to creep feed.
There were no adverse effects on gilt performance in terms of body weight change during gestation and lactation or on fed intake. Additionally, no effects were seen on litter characteristics (i.e., total born, born alive, litter weight, mortality). Piglet body weight at weaning was greatest for offspring from HY0.25 gilts followed by offspring from HY1.0 with the offspring reared on control gilts being weaned the lightest (Figure 1). Additionally, improvements in immunoglobulins were seen in piglets reared on sows fed yeast. Specifically, on day 1, piglets reared on HY1.0 gilts had the greatest concentration of plasma IgA and IgM (Table 1).
In addition to these effects seen on piglets, the sow also benefited from the dietary treatment. Data suggested that there were improvements in sow liver function and antioxidant activities, which is beneficial particularly in reproductive sows due to the rapid growth associated with gestation and lactation.
Therefore, piglets and sows benefit from the yeast pre-weaning, but there is still more work to be done to determine if there are lasting effects for the offspring following weaning.
What this means for producersThe European Union has been leading the way in additive bans (in-feed antibiotics and ZnO) and is predicted that this policy change will be coming to North America in the coming years. Researchers are still conducting work to identify alternatives that are economically feasible and effective. Yeast additives are promising due to their ability to impact pigs when fed directly or indirectly (through the sow). The current study identified that yeast fed at 0.25% of the sow’s late gestation and lactation diet resulted in a 650g increase in piglet weaning weight. More work should be done to determine the post-weaning performance of offspring reared from yeast-supplemented sows.
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Christensen is a Ph.D. student, Kiarie is a professor of monogastic nutrition, and Huber is an associate professor in swine nutrition, all with the Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph. Schulze is the innovation and technical director at Livalta.
