Evaluation of milk chocolate product as a substitute for whey in pig starter diets

Impact of sensory feed additives on feed intake, feed preferences, and growth of female piglets during the early postweaning period

Our study aimed at investigating the effect of feed supplementation, from weaning, with 3 sensory feed additives (FA1, FA2, and FA3) on feed preferences, feed intake, and growth of piglets. The FA1 contained extract of Stevia rebaudiana (10 to 20%), extract of high-saponin plants (5 to 10%), and excipients (70 to 85%), the FA2 was mainly composed of a natural extract of Citrus sinensis (60 to 80%), and the FA3 was made of a blend of extracts of hot-flavored spices (5 to 15%) and excipients (85 to 95%). At weaning (d 1), a total of 32 female piglets housed in individual pens were allocated to 4 treatments (FA1, FA2, FA3, and control [CON]) of equivalent mean weight. The pigs were fed a standard pelleted prestarter diet from weaning (d 1) to d 15 and a starter diet from d 16 to 28. The diets were supplemented with the feed additives (FA) corresponding to their treatment, while the CON treatment was the standard diets with no additive. Feed refusals were weighed daily and piglets were weighed weekly on d 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28. On the day of feed transition (d 16) as well as 7 (d 23) and 10 d (d 26) later, the animals were consecutively subjected to 1- and 22-h double-choice feeding tests to investigate their preferences during a short period and a longer period of time for the CON starter diet and the starter diet added with the FA corresponding to their treatment. No overall effect of the feed additives was observed on ADFI, ADG, G:F, and final BW. No overall preference was highlighted for the FA1 treatment, except for a preference for the FA1 starter diet during the 1-h test on d 23 (78% of total feed intake; P < 0.01). For the FA2 treatment, the pigs consumed the FA2 starter diet more than the CON starter diet during the 22-h tests on d 16 (67% of total feed intake; P < 0.05) and 26 (62% of total feed intake; P < 0.01). For the FA3 treatment, on d 26, the FA3 starter diet was and tended to be consumed more than the CON starter diet during 1- (69% of total intake; P < 0.05) and 22-h (60% of total intake; P < 0.10) tests, respectively. In conclusion, feed supplementation with the FA1, FA2, and FA3 from weaning did not induce beneficial effects on feed intake and growth performance during the early postweaning period. The FA2 increased palatability and acceptance of the unfamiliar starter diet the day of feed transition, while the FA1 and FA3 increased palatability of the starter diet only after a few days of exposure, most likely through long-term familiarization processes.

Feed preferences and performance of nursery pigs fed diets containing various inclusion amounts and qualities of distillers coproducts and flavor

We evaluated the preferences of nursery pigs for diets containing increasing distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), varying in color, or high-protein distillers dried grains (HP-DDG) and the effects of flavor supplementation on pig preference and growth performance. In Exp. 1 through 5, diet preference was determined in weanling pigs adjusted to a commercial diet for at least 10 d, and then housed individually for a 2-d double-choice preference test. In Exp. 1, a total of 60 pigs (11.6 ± 0.3 kg of BW) were given a choice between a reference diet (0% DDGS) and test diets containing 0, 10, 20, or 30% DDGS. In Exp. 2, a total of 80 pigs (10.8 ± 0.1 kg of BW) were given a choice between a reference diet (0% HP-DDG) and diets containing 0, 10, 20, or 30% HP-DDG. In Exp. 3, a total of 80 pigs (10.3 ± 0.2 kg of BW) were given a choice between a reference diet (0% DDGS) and a diet containing 0%, 30% light, or 30% dark DDGS. In Exp. 4, a total of 80 pigs (11.2 ± 0.2 kg of BW) were given a choice between a reference diet without DDGS and a diet containing either 0% DDGS, 10 or 20% light DDGS, or 10 or 20% dark DDGS. In Exp. 5, a total of 108 pigs (9.0 ± 0.2 kg of BW) were given a choice between a reference diet (0% DDGS and no flavor) and a diet without or with flavor and containing 0, 10, or 20% DDGS. In Exp. 1 and 2, DDGS and HP-DDG, respectively, linearly decreased (P < 0.01) pig preference. In Exp. 3, dark DDGS were preferred (P < 0.05) compared with light DDGS. In Exp. 4, preferences were linearly reduced (P < 0.01) with DDGS inclusion, and dark DDGS tended (P = 0.06) to be preferred compared with light DDGS. In Exp. 5, DDGS reduced preference (P < 0.01) and flavor reduced preference (P < 0.01) regardless of DDGS level. In Exp. 6, a total of 192 pigs (6.7 ± 0.1 kg of BW) were fed starter 1 diets without or with flavor for 1 wk. Subsequently, pigs were fed starter 2 and 3 diets (2 wk each) containing 0, 10, or 20% DDGS while continuing to receive their respective flavor treatment. Flavor addition during the starter 1 phase increased ADFI (P = 0.02), and DDGS inclusion tended to decrease ADG (P = 0.06) and decreased ADFI (P = 0.03) during the starter 2 phase. Volatile components in DDGS and HP-DDG varied greatly depending on the source. Nursery pigs preferred a diet without DDGS or HP-DDG, and this appeared to be unrelated to color differences between sources. Knowledge of volatile compounds that enhance or suppress the palatability of feed may lead to further development of feed additives for masking relatively unpalatable, albeit cost-effective, ingredients.

Efficacy of sucrose and milk chocolate product or dried porcine solubles to increase feed intake and improve performance of lactating sows1

Two experiments were conducted to determine the voluntary feed intake and performance of lactating sows fed diets containing a sucrose/milk chocolate product (MCP) blend (Exp. 1) or dried porcine solubles (DPS; Exp. 2). Dried porcine solubles is a coproduct of heparin extraction from porcine small intestines. In Exp. 1, mixed-parity sows (n = 108) at two research centers were assigned to a corn-soybean-meal-based diet formulated to contain 0.9% total lysine or a similar diet that contained 4% sucrose and 2% MCP on an as-fed basis. Sows were allowed ad libitum access to dietary treatments from the day of farrowing until pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d postpartum. Diet had no significant effect on voluntary feed intake of sows during lactation, backfat depth, or postweaning interval to estrus, but it had variable effects on body weight changes. Inclusion of the sucrose/MCP blend in diets elicited a 2% improvement in litter weaning weight at one research center and a 6% depression in litter weaning weight at the other center (diet x research center, P < 0.05). Litter size throughout lactation was unaffected by dietary treatment. In Exp. 2, mixed-parity sows (n = 119) at two research centers were assigned to corn-soybean meal-based diets formulated to contain 0.9% total lysine with 0, 1.5, or 3.0% added DPS. Sows were assigned to dietary treatments within research center, farrowing group, and parity at parturition. Dried porcine solubles tended to increase (P < 0.10) total feed consumed in the first 9 d of lactation and average daily feed intake over the entire lactation (6.03, 6.53, and 6.30 kg) for sows fed 0, 1.5, and 3.0% DPS, respectively. Litter size and weight on d 18 of lactation were not affected by concentration of DPS in the diet. Days from weaning to estrus and percentage of sows displaying estrus were not influenced by diet. We conclude that inclusion of the sucrose/MCP blend in the diet for lactating sows had no consistent effect on voluntary feed intake of sows and weight gain of nursing pigs. Inclusion of DPS at 1.5 or 3.0% tended to improve feed intake of lactating sows but had no significant influence on litter performance.