From birth to the day they are slaughtered for meat, pigs experience a delicate process of growth.

 

External challenges - African swine fever and high feed prices, for example - can seriously impact these animals' end state. Sustainability demands push farmers to seek the best way of efficient production.

 

At the dietary level, the key to the good health of pigs is the adequate consumption of all essential nutrients. A fulfillment of this criterion may bestow several benefits to pigs, including "…more resistant to many bacterial and parasitic infections, which may be partially due to better body tissue integrity, increased antibody production, improved immunity to diseases, or other factors," Jerry Shurson et al states ("Diet and Health Interactions in Swine", 2010).

 

Producers are in a position to be prudent and cognisant of what constitutes a good pig diet - and ends up in its body. With attention on satisfying the acceptable levels of essential nutrients, non-essential nutrients, like dietary fibre (while fiber is obtained from a macronutrient, "the absence of a deficiency state prevents it from being considered an essential nutrient," according to Jill Balla Kohn, "Is Dietary Fiber Considered an Essential Nutrient?"), also need attention.

 

This is especially the case as dietary fibre "is linked to reduced animal performance and impaired nutrient uptake," according to AB Vista (pages 8-9). However, "a certain level of dietary fiber is necessary to sustain normal physiological processes."

 

As an alternative to soluble dietary fibre, a cost-effective stimbiotic can improve fibre digestion and small-chain fatty acids production, AB Vista notes. And to determine the dietary fiber content of the finished animal feed, the company creates a fiber calculator which taps into the average values of raw materials.

 

Knowledge and innovation can help open the path to better-optimised pig diets, and today, industry players are continuously exploring the frontier of animal nutrition for possible and more effective solutions.

 

The truth is, animal diets would only improve further due to those developments. This would not only be of great benefit to the environment but to also keep up with the goal of global food security.

 

The full article is published on the February 2023 issue of LIVESTOCK & FEED Business. To read the full report, please email to inquiry@efeedlink.com to request for a complimentary copy of the magazine, indicating your name, mailing address and title of the report.