Performance of low birth-weight piglets upon protein-energy and/or colostrum supplementation

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the effect of oral protein-energy supplement (OPES) and/or extra colostrum within the first few hours of life on the survival and growth performance of low birth-weight piglets during the suckling period. Based upon nutritional strategy, low-birth-weight piglets (804−1309g) were randomly allocated into four groups: C0S0 (control group, n= 300) - no supplementation; C1S0 (n= 299) - supplementation with 50mL of a colostrum pool through an orogastric tube; C0S1 (n= 298) - oral supplementation with 8mL oral OPES; C1S1 (n= 297) - supplementation with both 50mL of colostrum and 8mL of OPES. The piglets’ body weight was monitored at birth, 24h after birth, on day 7, day 14 and day 20 post-partum. Both colostrum and protein-energy supplementations did not affect (P>0.05) colostrum intake (253.6g; 259.4g; 259.4g; 263.8g for C0S0, C1S0, C0S1, C1S1, respectively), weight gain during the first 24h (62.6g; 68.3g; 67.1g and 69.8g for C0S0, C1S0, C0S1, C1S1, respectively) and pre-weaning mortality (11.3%, 11.4%, 12.4% and 9.4% for C0S0, C1S0, C0S1, C1S1, respectively). Administration of OPES increased (P= 0.032) the average daily weight gain from birth till weaning (189.1 vs. 182.3g) and tended to increase the weight of the piglets (P= 0.060) at weaning (4893.1 vs. 4746.4g for OPES and no OPES, respectively). In conclusion, nutritional manipulation does not affect colostrum intake and pre-weaning mortality of low birth-weight piglets. However, body weight gain during the suckling period and the weight at weaning were observed to be marginally improved by administration of OPES.

Supplementing Colostrum from Multiparous Sows: Effects on Performance and Health in Piglets from Gilts in Farm Conditions

“…Weight and ADG depend on multiple variants, as shown by ANCOVA, with litter and birth weight (especially in early life) having the most important effects. These results agree with those of previous studies [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”

Evaluation of Immunoglobulin G Absorption from Goat Colostrum by Newborn Piglets

“…Adequate colostrum intake in livestock species is essential for neonatal survival. However, in pig farms breeding hyperprolific sows, the correct intake of colostrum is difficult, and several authors have studied the use of supplementation with porcine and bovine immunoglobulins [8,10,11,19,20] or energy supplements [8,9,20,21] to make up for this deficit. To date, goat colostrum for piglet feeding has not been used, so this study was conceived to evaluate whether piglets can absorb goat IgG and any effects of its ingestion.…”

Preweaning performance in intrauterine growth‐restricted piglets: Characteristics and interventions

“…A fat‐based energy supplement lowered the preweaning mortality of low‐birth‐weight piglets but negatively affected body weight gain (Declerck et al, 2016). Other authors report that the supplementation of fat‐based (Manzke et al, 2018; Schmitt et al, 2019), protein‐based (Viott et al, 2018), or carbohydrate‐based (Manzke et al, 2018), energy‐dense supplements failed to have any effect on body temperature, weight gain, and survival. These interventions have in common that they only provide support to the piglets for a very brief period (typically, they are given only during the first day of life) (Table 1), after which the piglet is responsible for its intake of energy.…”

“…For example, colostrum is high in lipid‐based energy and bioactive compounds. Supplementing porcine colostrum temporarily increased body temperature (Amdi et al, 2017) but failed to have long‐term effects on performance (Viott et al, 2018). In contrast, Engelsmann and co‐workers failed to see a rise in body temperature when a bolus of porcine colostrum in combination with subcutaneous injections of glucose was given.…”