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A Practical Look at Nutritional Attempts to Improve Pork Quality

Posted in: Meat Quality, Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles by admin on April 5, 2006 | No Comments

Genetics and handling around slaughter contribute to meat quality, and nutrition does as well to a lesser extent. Great nutrition will not be able to overcome poor genetics or handling, and nutritional research on meat quality is variable likely due to the other two factors. Meat quality is subjective can be assessed by various measures, but carcass characteristics are typically used. Leanness and fat characteristics, such as firmness, type and colour, are often used to evaluate carcass characteristics. Feed withdrawal up to 24 hours before slaughter can reduce risk of meat contamination during processing, and improve meat colour and pH. Adding vitamin E to diets can result in darker, more stable colour and reduce drip loss and fat oxidation, but requires high concentrations to do so. Vitamin D does not affect tenderness or subjective colour. Vitamin C may be able to improve meat colour and drip loss, but increases fat oxidation. Magnesium, iron, and manganese supplementation have all shown variable results. Niacin studies are limited, but it may be able to improve colour, pH, and drip loss. Creatine also has shown variable results. Ractopamine increases carcass leanness, and carnitine could enhance protein deposition and increase meat quality when used along with ractopamine.

New Thoughts on Nutrition of Newly Weaned Pigs

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles by admin on | No Comments

Nursery pig diets should be chosen to adjust pigs quickly to a cheaper and simpler diet, maximize feed intake, and be highly digestible. After weaning the pig’s digestive tract undergoes an acute phase and then an adaptive phase. Pigs have high turnover of portal-drained viscera tissue, which requires large amounts of protein turnover and energy. Diets can be formulated to support the turnover in weanling pigs. Antibiotic use has been coming under increasing pressure, so alternatives to help nursery growth can be considered. Probiotic benefit is debatable as there is a large variation in strain and amount used, herd health status, and amount consumed in the nursery. However, feeding the sow probiotics during lactation may be able to benefit the pigs pre- and post-weaning. Liquid feeding may also be easier on post-weaning digestive tracts. Insoluble dietary fibre can reduce diarrhea, although it may be more useful in areas where antibiotics are already banned. Pro-inflammatory cytokines can lead to an immune response, and fatty acids have been shown to reduce the inflammatory response. Feed quality, particle size, and pelleting are also considerations when choosing a nursery diet.

Effect of Dietary Fibre on the Behaviour and Health of the Restricted Fed Sow

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles, Welfare by admin on May 26, 2001 | No Comments

Gestating sows are often fed a restricted diet prior to farrowing to keep their body condition stable; however, the reduced diet often does not provide feelings of satiation. This can result in stereotypic, oral, and/or aggressive behaviours, and fails to provide sows with the freedom of normal behaviour (foraging). Providing a higher fibre diet, or additional high fibre feed can satisfy hunger, and reduce unwanted feeding behaviours. When fed a high fibre diet it was found sows spent an increased amount of time lying down, and total time spent on stereotypic behaviours was reduced. Lower pariety sows were more likely to reduce stereotypic behaviours, and the inclusion of straw reduced the behaviours further. High fibre diets increased time spent eating – partially because the sows spent more time masticating. As well, there was a lower feed intake rate and a lower feeding motivation. Aggression severity has been reportedly reduced with a high fibre diet, but aggression around the feed and any substrate can still persist. The effect of high fibre diets on farrowing is still debatable. There have been studies showing increased time lying on side, and increased prolactin levels, but no overall effect on piglet survival,weight, litter size, or reduction of agalactia. High fibre diets do seem to increase feed intake during lactation, and increased digestibility of feed stuff. High fibre diets seem to provide some benefits on a nutritional level, but definitely help sows to eat closer to satiation. This helps to reduce stereotypic behaviours, express foraging behaviour, and improve sow welfare.

Characterizing Protein Deposition Curves in Growing-Finishing Pigs of a Commercial Genotype

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on July 28, 1997 | No Comments

Precise feeding can allow the maximum growth, without excess feed waste. However, determining the exact requirements depends on factors including environmental aspects, age, sex, and genetics of the pig. The protein deposition rate can help determine the amino acid requirements. This study aimed to determine the upper protein deposition rate (PD) limit, create PD curves, and trace the change in feed intake and efficiency in gilts and barrows grow from 24 to 120kg. Pigs were slaughtered at 24, 56, 72, 88, 104, and 120kg to analyze carcass composition. Maximum PD for barrows was 150 g/d between 43-52kg body weight, and for gilts was 133g/d between 68-74kg. PD curves were created using the Richards function, and it was found in this study that below 90kg the PD for barrows was higher, but over 90kg body weight gilt PD was higher. Understanding where the maximum protein deposition rate occurs for specific sex and genetic lines of pigs can allow the amino acid levels in feed to be manipulated, but similar studies should be continued on lean and lipid deposition to understand overall growth.

Social rank and feeding behaviour of group-housed sows fed competitively or ad libitum

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles by admin on May 23, 1994 | No Comments

When housed in groups, it is common for an hierarchy to be established between sows. If the feeding regime is to floor feed a set amount of feed 1-2 times per day, then less dominant sows may not be able to obtain a fair amount or feed. In this case, the less dominant sows may not gain as much weight. This study tested the effect of a high fiber feed being given ad libitum on sow weight gain. First, the hierarchy of the group was determined by setting food in the middle of dyads of sows, and seeing with sow was dominant. Hierarchy was found to be close to linear, so each so was given a ranking. Active and passive interactions, and feeding behaviors were also recorded. In floor-fed groups sows that were low-ranking gained less weight than the high ranking sows in the same group. However, there was not a clear relation between weight gain and hierarchy rank overall. For the ad libitum groups, sows preferred to feed independently, and there was no difference in time spent feeding or length of a feeding bout between sow rankings. This indicates dominance is less important in an ad libitum feeding situation, but might be a disadvantage to low-ranking sows when floor-fed.

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