Effect of Raw and Extruded Propionic Acid-Treated Field Beans on Energy and Crude Protein Digestibility ( and ), Growth and Carcass Quality in Grow-Finisher Pigs.

The ileal digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and crude protein (CP) of field beans treated with propionic acid (trFB) and extruded trFB (exFB) was determined in experiment 1. The DE and dCP values of trFB and exFB were determined using the difference method in experiment 2. The effect of replacing SBM with trFB and exFB in grow-finisher diets on growth, carcass quality, apparent ileal digestibility (AiD), and total tract digestibility (ATTD) of DM, OM, gross energy (GE), and CP were investigated in experiment 3.

Identifying challenges to manage body weight variation in pig farms implementing all-in-all-out management practices and their possible implications for animal health: a case study.

Background: Managing body weight (BW) variation is a challenge in farrow-to-finish farms implementing all-in/all-out (AIAO) production systems due to the lack of "off-site" facilities to segregate slow growing pigs (SGP). This case study investigated different approaches to managing BW variation in a farrow-to-finish commercial pig farm with a self-declared AIAO management and the possible implications for animal health.

Case Presentation: A total of 1096 pigs (1047 pigs born within 1 week plus 49 pigs born 1 week later) were tracked until slaughter as they moved through the production stages.

Effect of cereal fermentation and carbohydrase supplementation on growth, nutrient digestibility and intestinal microbiota in liquid-fed grow-finishing pigs.

This study aimed to determine the impact of fermenting the cereal fraction of the diet (C) and enzyme supplementation (ENZ) on the bacterial composition of the feed, nutrient digestibility, pig growth, feed efficiency (FE), intestinal volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations and intestinal microbiota composition. A total of 252 grow-finisher pigs (~ 40.4 kg; 7 pigs/pen) were randomly allocated to 4 diets in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement for 55d.

Effect of cereal soaking and carbohydrase supplementation on growth, nutrient digestibility and intestinal microbiota in liquid-fed grow-finishing pigs.

Soaking the cereal fraction of a liquid diet prior to feeding (C), and/or carbohydrase enzyme supplementation (ENZ) are likely to modulate both feed and intestinal microbial populations and improve feed efficiency (FE) in pigs. To test this hypothesis, a total of 392 grow-finisher pigs (~33.4 kg, 7 pigs/pen) were randomly allocated to 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement for 70 days as follows: (1) fresh liquid feed (Fresh); (2) Cereal soaked liquid feed (Soak); (3) Fresh + ENZ and (4) Soak + ENZ.