Diarrhea

Effects of inclusion of hybrid rye in diets on growth performance and diarrhea incidence of weanling pigs

Production of hybrid rye in North America is increasing after being introduced to Canada and the United States in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Compared with corn, hybrid rye contains similar amounts of standardized ileal digestible amino acids, a greater concentration of standardized total tract digestible P, and approximately 94% of the metabolizable energy. Hybrid rye contains more fermentable dietary fiber than corn, which has the potential to improve gut health, but its reduced digestibility of amino acids may simultaneously have a negative impact on the health of the large intestine. Two experiments were conducted to determine the maximum amount of hybrid rye that can be included in diets for weanling pigs without influencing growth performance or diarrhea incidence.

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Alternative nutrition strategies to control post-weaning diarrhea

Cristobal M., Su A Lee, L. Blavi and H. H. Stein. 2019. Alternative nutrition strategies to control post-weaning diarrhea. Farm Journals Pork. October 2019. Link to full text.

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Effect of decreasing protein levels in diets fed to weanling pigs on growth performance, fecal score, and carcass characteristics

Diarrhea is one of the main problems for pigs during the post-weaning period. Traditionally, antibiotic growth promoters have been used to control post-weaning diarrhea, but consumers are increasingly concerned about this practice and there is therefore an interest in feeding diets that contain no antibiotics. However, feeding pigs without antibiotic growth promoters requires alternative strategies to control post-weaning diarrhea, but feeding low protein diets may be one way to reduce the incidence of post-weaning diarrhea. However, there is a lack of knowledge about consequences of reducing the protein level in diets fed to weanling pigs.

Feeding low protein diets to pigs results in increased net energy in the diet, reduced water intake by pigs, and reduced nitrogen excretion. This will result in reduced volume of manure and also reduced concentrations of ammonium in manure. However, if formulation of low protein diets results in feeding diets with concentrations of indispensable AA that are below the requirements, deposition of protein in pigs may be greater and deposition of fat may be increased compared with pigs fed a diet containing higher level of protein. However, it is not known if feeding a diet low in protein to weanling pigs also results in changes in carcass characteristics of market pigs.

Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that feeding a low-protein diet to pigs during the post-weaning period will result in reduced diarrhea during this period, but no effects on growth performance from wean to finish and no changes in carcass composition of pigs when they reach market weight.

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Copper hydroxychloride improves growth performance and reduces diarrhea frequency of weanling pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet

Espinosa, C. D., S. R. Fry, J. L. Usry, and H. H. Stein. 2018. Copper hydroxychloride improves growth performance and reduces diarrhea frequency of weanling pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet. J. Anim. Sci. 96(Suppl. 2):131-132 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

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Copper hydroxychloride improves growth performance and reduces diarrhea frequency of weanling pigs fed a corn–soybean meal diet but does not change apparent total tract digestibility of energy and acid hydrolyzed ether extract

Espinosa, C. D., R. S. Fry, J. L. Usry, and H. H. Stein. 2017. Copper hydroxychloride improves growth performance and reduces diarrhea frequency of weanling pigs fed a corn–soybean meal diet but does not change apparent total tract digestibility of energy and acid hydrolyzed ether extract. J. Anim. Sci. 95:5447-5454. Link to abstract

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Effect of adding tribasic copper chloride (TBCC) to diets for weanling pigs

Copper is an essential micronutrient for animals. It is involved in cellular respiration and connective tissue development as well as being an essential component of several enzymes. High doses of copper—about 20 times the nutritional requirement—have been shown to improve growth performance in pigs. This may be because copper has an antimicrobial effect in the intestinal tract.

When supplemental copper is added to pig diets, it is usually in the form of copper sulfate. However, another form called tribasic copper chloride (TBCC) has been shown to be equally effective and may be  more bioavailable, but it is not yet known how much TBCC should be fed to optimize performance. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the effects of adding 100 or 200 mg/kg TBCC to diets fed to weanling pigs.

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Effects of protein and sulfur AA concentration in diets fed to weanling pigs on growth performance and diarrhea incidence

Reis, T. C. S., G. Mariscal-Landin, P. E. Urriola, and H. H. Stein.  2009. Effects of protein and sulfur AA concentration in diets fed to weanling pigs on growth performance and diarrhea incidence. J. Anim. Sci. 87 (E-Suppl. 2):255 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

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