Linneos Technical Department, 2024
Introduction
Pigs are very sensitive to umami, approximately 10 times more than to sweetness. The overexpression of umami receptors in post-weaning piglets is an evolutionary adaptation that allows the piglet to choose the most protein-rich feed, at a stage when protein intake is vital. The addition of umami to the feed of piglets at this stage could take advantage of this preference, so it makes sense to evaluate the effect that umami palatants have on post-weaning intake.
Knowing the nutritional sensitivity and preferences of pigs will allow to improve feeding practices by including sensory additives to the feed in order to improve its palatability.
Objective
To evaluate the effect of Apsapal on the palatability of post-weaning piglet feed.
Material and methods
Animals and facilities
The study was carried out under commercial conditions in a pig farm in Igualada (Barcelona, Spain). It was conducted in two 28-days phases.
Twelve pens including 22 animals each were planned for both the first and the second phase. In total, 198 piglets were used in 3 treatments (3 replicates (pens) per treatment: 66 piglets/treatment in the 1st phase and 66 piglets/treatment in the 2nd phase). The weights and number of animals were equalised per pen so that the pens were similar to each other. All treatments had the same management conditions.
Experimental design
The following experimental design was applied:
Data
The following production parameters were assessed:
- Feed intake
- Individual body weight at the beginning and end of each phase
- Mortality and/or discarding of animals
- Parameters derived from the above: body weight gained, average daily gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio.
Results
During the study, no drop occurred.
In the pre-starter period, the feed conversion rate values of piglets fed the APSAPAL (complete dose) feed were statistically better than in the control group.
In the starter period, the average daily gain values of piglets fed APSAPAL (complete dose) feed were statistically better than in the control group.
In the weaning period as a whole, both intake and total body weight gained were better in piglets fed APSAPAL (complete dose) than in the control.
In both phases a very low dispersion of the data is observed, and therefore a very high homogeneity in the APSAPAL (complete dose) group compared to the control: all piglets in each pen with APSAPAL (complete dose) were equally attracted to the feed.
Conclusions
When interpreting the complete weaning period, it is found that APSAPAL improves the zootechnical performance, with a difference with the control group.
In both doses of Apsapal, ADG and FCR results were better than in the control.
The inclusion of Apsapal in the piglet feed at the post-weaning stage is recommended as a means to significantly improve the palatability of the feed and thus increase feed intake.
