Articles - Nutrition

The taste system senses the nutritional value of foods through the taste buds defined as clusters of taste sensory cells present in the tongue

In recent years the field of sweet taste has experienced a sudden twist due to the presence of taste receptors not only in clusters in the oral cavity (taste buds) but also in non-taste tissues particularly in the mucosa of the GIT.

Sudden death due to HBS is a devastating, stealthy phenomenon that affects pigs in growth and finishing phases. The heaviest animals die, sometimes a few over several days, or a few per week, but in a constant succession that can last (up to nine months in Italy’s case, where heavier animals are killed).

It isn’t easy to compile a bibliography referring to this subject matter in specific cases; one has to search for it among the footnotes of other, more general works. The aim of this article is to sum up aspects of feeding that can be important at the time of farrowing.

The establishment of normal gut microbial communities can also prevent the colonization of pathogenic microorganisms.

Glycerol is a byproduct of the industry of bio-diesel fuels, representing roughly 10% of the crude oil used for that purpose. Therefore, large quantities are expected to be available in the near future for the different markets that can have a potential interest for it.

Genetic selection over the last few decades has resulted in pigs with better feed conversion and leaner carcasses, but it has also led to pigs with a decreased ingestion capacity.

To maximize piglet growth, it is recommended that levels of crude protein be at 20-23% in pre-starters and 18-20% in starters. However, part of that crude protein will not be digested at the end of the ileum, and it will enter the large intestine together with the endogenous waste.

The supply of wet feed, when compared to dry feed, improves the rate of growth and conversion, at least these are the results of the trials carried out in the experimental stations.

Nutrition is considered to be a clear factor that increases the risk of ulcers appearing.

Stomach ulcers are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality, unrelated to infectious processes, that the industrial production of swine faces, both in reproduction as well as in finishing.

One way to increase the intake of specific FA without changing the nutritional behavior of the consumers would be to fortify traditional food items such as meat and meat products with n-3 PUFA

The compound feed industry is one of the stakeholders having a role in minimizing the environmental impact while meeting the demand for high quality and cost effective products.

Not all DF sources are equally suited to influence the provision of energy for the animals.

Water is the most essential nutrient to livestock nutrition and must be considered as much as possible. It should be drinkable, it should not contain harmful substances and should be readily available for the animals concerned.

Arginine and glutamine (members of the arginine family of amino acids) are major building blocks for proteins and essential precursors for synthesis of many substances with enormous biological importance.

In order to apply the most suitable feeding regime to newly weaned pigs it is important to balance the trade off between the detrimental effect on performance of feeding levels of protein that are too low to allow maximal growth and those which increase the risk of post weaning diarrhoea.

Tryptophan has positive effects on voluntary feed intake. This greater feed intake leads to increased growth performance and improved feed conversion ratio in piglets, and to lower body weight losses in sows during lactation.

Low maternal feed levels cause a reduction in muscle fibre numbers, whereas enhanced maternal nutrition resulted in a higher number of muscle fibres in specific muscles.

The AMPs (also called host defence peptides) are small gene encoded peptides of 1 to 5 kDa that have a broad range of activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, fungi and mycobacteria

A challenge in animal production today is to raise livestock within new environmental rules and regulations. Although most states in the United States regulate swine waste application based on N concentration, more are changing to P-based regulations.

Our research model has been a short chain fructooligosaccharide (scFOS) fed to swine. This compound was selected because it was identified in human and swine milk, was shown to have health benefits in human infants and patients recovering from intestinal anastomosis. The health benefit was believed to occur via the trophic effect of scFOS on the Bifidobacteria population.