“Zero Zinc” era is nothing new for the local industry in France. Nevertheless, in a period of reduction of antibiotics usage, it is a major concern for the veterinarians, who miss a nice and cheap solution to help the pig farmers at controlling health issues at weaning.
Senior Researcher
miXscience
In France, piglet pre-starter feeds have been designed for fast growth in the last three decades, at least. Cost and safety, defined as low incidence of scours, drive the market segmentation. Altogether, these diets can be defined as High Nutrient Density Diets, with more or less investment on feedstuffs and additives for digestive health control.
In the late 1980’s, first reports on use of “pharmacological level” of zinc oxide (ZnO) crossed the Atlantic Ocean: 1500 to 3000 ppm ZnO added to the diet of piglets during one or two weeks post-weaning were successful to control diarrhea and to promote growth. At the same time, national rules on maximum content of N, P and trace elements in pig feed were published, aiming to reduce the impact of pork production on the environment. Since the very start then, the French nutritionists were aware of the effect of ZnO on piglets, but it was forbidden to use in practice.
It changed at the end of 2014, when a ZnO premix was registered in the EU as a vet prescription. This decision was rapidly challenged by political actions, resulting in the withdrawal of authorization for ZnO prescription voted in 2018, applicable early July 2022. From the start of 2015 to the end of 2020, high ZnO could be used in France. However, feeding practice had changed since the 1980’s: feed volume with veterinary prescription in 2015 accounted for less than 40% of the total, compared to >95% in the 1990’s. ZnO premix was exchanged for antibiotics, it did not boost the tonnage of prescription diets. Because of this, high ZnO inclusion has never been a main driver of piglet pre-starter feed design in our country. As a consequence, “Zero Zinc” era is nothing new for the local industry. Nevertheless, in a period of reduction of antibiotics usage, it is a major concern for the veterinarians, who miss a nice and cheap solution to help the pig farmers at controlling health issues at weaning.
For the nutritionist, weanling pig feed design remains driven by palatability, digestibility and cost. Ingredient selection is key. Accurate process monitoring is mandatory. Additives should be carefully evaluated in order to avoid to add costs to cost. Research made a lot of progress on describing the inflammatory response in piglets. Description of the gut microbiota with molecular techniques put emphasis on the role of strong bacterial ecosystem on piglet health. Gut barrier integrity remains an evolving research subject, but the results on nutritional effects can already be applied. Especially, gut should be prepared before weaning, starting with sows feed and milk production. Along with these modern concepts, emphasis has been put on: the role of fiber sources and probiotics to regulate appetite, digestion rate, gut transit and bacterial load and balance; the role of intermediate metabolites of plants (polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids) on microbiota metabolism and gut inflammation. Specific organic acids remain the gold standard for prevention of gut pathogen development.
Analysis of fecal total peroxidase activity (TPO, expressed in myeloperoxidase -MPO- equivalent) has been implemented at Mixscience R&D laboratory since 2017 to quantify gut inflammatory status. Validation of the method was presented to the research community at the Digestive Physiology of Pigs meeting in 2018, and full methodology and preliminary results were shown at the ZERO ZINC congress in 2019. Based on this technique, a proprietary feed supplement based on fiber sources blend (Valopro Win) was developed in order to speed-up gut adaptation post-weaning and to reduce scours. This product is successfully implemented in the pre-starter diet range of the company. Ongoing research also resulted in designing phytogenic-based formula minimizing gut inflammation and reducing respiratory disease symptoms both.
Much progress was achieved in nutrition. In order to transfer it to the field, the main difficulty lies today in piglet management around weaning: feed does not work alone, increased comfort is a key factor of success for good weaning outcome. However, cost pressure is high on pig farmers, promoting cheaper investment and simplified operating procedures. New feeder types, higher numbers of piglets per pen, new vaccination plans, new rules on animal welfare, etc… : all contribute to challenge the adaptation capacity to weaning, with consequence on the time dedicated by piglet to eat and drink. In France, even if the majority of pig farms ownership remains based on individuals, not companies, the increasing farm size requires qualified and trained workers. Like everywhere, qualified workforce is getting scarce: attracting and keeping the workers, as well as educating the future ones is highly important too, in order to contribute to this evolutive trend.
*This article was excerpted from the White Paper, which was published by Natur-add platform and entitled “What are the concerns of doing without therapeutic doses of zinc oxide in piglet feeds?”
Other articles in the White Paper are:
• Zero zinc for an healthier gut microflora: A new paradigm for feeding piglets
Gilles Langeoire, Consultant and swine nutritionist for feed compounders, home mixer farmers, feed additives companies.
• Commercial guidelines for successful zero-zinc oxide commercial piglet feeds
Ioannis Mavromichalis, Animal nutritionist and managing director at Ariston Nutrition Consulting International.
• France: Zero-zinc Ban at Therapeutic Dose is Nothing New For The French Feed Industry
David Guillou, Senior Researcher at miXscience, a French premix and Service firm.
• Denmark: What is the alternative to medicinal ZnO for weaning piglets?
Dorthe Carlson, Trial manager at TestPig, a Danish Pig Advisory Center.
• Spain: The challenge of demedication
Gilles Langeoire, Consultant and swine nutritionist for feed compounders, home mixer farmers, feed additives companies.
• Hizox: A highly bioavailable source of Zinc
Animine Company
To view and read all of the White Paper, please follow the link below: https://natur-add.com/lbuyer
