ISSUE FOCUS 46 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE November 2024 Flavours and sweeteners improve feed intake in piglets, especially during challenging transitions like weaning. A recent study found that incorporating a vanilla flavour with a sweetener led to a 47% increase in feed intake and enhanced growth in piglets. This approach ensures a stable transition to solid feed, supporting animal welfare and performance. Incorporating well-formulated flavours and sweeteners into animal feed enhances palatability and ensures acceptance of the diet. This is especially useful during challenging periods, such as weaning, lactation, or feed transitions when appetite and feed intake are compromised. Moreover, adding flavours and sweeteners stimulates salivary gland activity and appetite, ultimately leading to higher feed intake for optimal growth. This improved sensory experience contributes to a state of enhanced relaxation, reduced feed-related stress and negative feeding associations. By ensuring a constant taste profile, this approach not only enhances animal performance but also contributes to overall animal welfare. WHAT ARE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES FACED BY PIGLETS DURING THE WEANING PROCESS? During weaning, piglets are challenged by several stressors. They are separated from their mothers and littermates and transferred into new groups with other piglets and unfamiliar, cooler facilities. Exposure to pathogens further strains their immune systems, intensifying the stress. Moreover, transitioning from breast milk to solid feed represents a dramatic shift in nutrition. Maintaining feed intake during this critical period is crucial for an optimal transition and has a significant impact on the overall growth of animals throughout the subsequent fattening phase. Incorporating milky, vanilla, and creamy flavours combined with a sweetener into the starter feed of piglets triggers the memory effect, evoking positive associations like the comforting taste of mother's milk, thus ensuring stable feed consumption. This approach offers a promising solution to introduce young piglets to unfamiliar solid feed avoiding feed intake reduction. HOW DO FLAVOURS HELP TO SOLVE THE CHALLENGE? Phytobiotics offers a diverse and cutting-edge portfolio of flavours and sweeteners covering a wide range of intensities and heat stability, tailored to the varying needs of feed processing and applications in animal feed. PHYTOBIOTICS’ FLAVOURS OPTIMIZE FEED INTAKE IN PIGLETS Dr. Anne Winkler Global Product Manager, Flavours & Sweeteners Phytobiotics Futterzusatzstoffe GmbH
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