Feeding the Pig’s Immune System

Diet formulation and feeding strategies may be used to boost the pigs’ immune system and reduce the negative impact of weaning. Post-weaning diarrhea can be reduced or prevented by feeding diets that have low concentrations of crude protein. Such diets may supply fewer amino acids than recommended and pig growth rate may be reduced, but if pigs are provided a diet with a normal or elevated concentration of protein after the immediate post-weaning period, then the overall post-weaning performance will not be compromised. Diets that are based on barley, oats, or naked oats have been shown to improve pig performance compared with diets based on wheat or corn, and there is evidence that the fiber fraction in barley and oats help improve intestinal health of pigs. However, it has also been shown that diets based on cooked white rice may improve performance and the immune status of the pig. Diets fed in a liquid or in a fermented liquid form improve pig performance compared with diets fed in a dry form, and the liquid diets help maintain intestinal integrity during the post-weaning period. It is, therefore, recommended that weanling pigs should be fed liquid diets to maximize performance. Introduction Feeding pigs to help it’s immune system requires that many different approaches be used but the one thing these approaches have in common is that they all aim at improving the pigs’ ability to prevent pathogenic bacteria from colonizing in the intestinal system. This can be accomplished via an improved immunological response to pathogens or via mechanisms that prevent the pathogens from adhering to intestinal tissue, and thus, reduce the damaging effects of the pathogens. In this summary, some of the approaches that are available to improve the pigs’ ability to reduce the impact of intestinal pathogens will be discussed. However, this is not a complete list of strategies or supplements that may be used and other strategies or products that are equally or more effective than the ones discussed here, may be available.