ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2024 65 EVOLVING FOR INTEGRATED AND ADAPTIVE NUTRITION FOR FATTENING PIGS The traditional factorial approach to fattening swine nutrition is therefore no longer sufficient to optimize the health and performance of pigs. The notion of adaptive nutrition becomes necessary, faced with a fluctuating environment whose impact on performance, health and physiology is difficult to quantify and predict. This new area of adaptive nutrition is all the more relevant as the environment of the pig, in other words the exposome, affects their phenotype by altering the expression of genes involved in metabolic and physiological pathways. EXPLORING THE EXPOSOME The exposome is a concept used to describe the environmental exposure that a pig faces during its life, and how this exposure impacts performance, metabolic pathways, physiology and health. Interestingly, Payling et al. (2023) were able to demonstrate via in depth evaluation of metabolic pathway changes in pigs exposed to nutritional restriction in utero and born with intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) presented with altered immune function in adulthood (Figure 2). A SAVVY™ plot showing activated (green) or purple (inhibited) pathways in the liver of IUGR finisher pigs compared to control finisher pigs. Immune function, development of bone structure and muscle deposition are therefore three major pillars which compete for the quantitative and qualitative allocation of nutrients, at the pre- and post-absorptive level. OPTIMIZING NUTRIENT SUPPLY AT THE PRE-ABSORPTIVE LEVEL Through the characterization of the nutrient composition of raw materials, nutritionists can optimize nutritional intake of pigs at the pre-absorptive level, by maximizing the digestibility of the nutrients, in order to reduce as much as possible the non-digestible fraction of the raw materials. The characterization of non-digestible fractions Digestive bacterial infections Poor housing conditions Fraction due to changes in feed efficiency Fraction due to a reduction in feed intake Mean growth response (%control) corrected 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35 -40 -45 LPS challenge -26.8 -4.1 -10.2 -29.6 -12.2 -25.2 -3.0 -17.3 -7.3 -5.4 -4.5 Mycotoxicoses Parasitic infections Respiratory diseases Figure 1. Different challenges are changing nutrient partitioning by the pig and consequently impacting feed efficiency | Goodband, Bob, Mike Tokach, Steve Dritz, Joel DeRouchey, and Jason Woodworth. "Practical starter pig amino acid requirements in relation to immunity, gut health and growth performance." Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology 5, no. 1 (2014): 1-11.
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