Managemental interventions to reduce weaning stress in piglets
Asish Debbarma*
PhD Scholar, Livestock Production and Management
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani-741235
*Corresponding email: asishdb68@gmail.com
Introduction:
Weaning can be defined as the separation of the young one from the mother. Weaning is a traumatic time for young piglets. Weaning a piglet from a sow is one of the most stressful moments in a piglet’s life, and it can cause digestive and immune system dysfunctions, resulting in decreased pig health, growth, and feed intake, especially in the first week after weaning. Stress is a biological response from internal or external events, real or perceived, that disrupts an animal’s homeostasis. Some of the negative consequences of weaning stress have been mitigated by technological advancements in housing, nutrition, health, and management, but a better understanding of the biological impacts of stress is required to improve weaning stress techniques. Good management practices at the time of weaning can reduce the detrimental effect of various stressors on the piglets. Therefore better herd can be achieved with minimum stress.
Problems associated with weaning in pig: Weaning is a stressful event causing to various problem such as
- Depressed growth rate
- Piglet diarrhea or scouring
- Poor defecation habits
- Poor social interaction
- Suppress the secretion of hormone
- Lack of protective immunity
- Development of stressful behaviors e.g. cannibalism.
Management interventions
To mitigate the negative effects of weaning stress on piglets, we must follow several management strategies in order to improve herd performance.
- Feeding: It is one of the important aspect to minimize the post-weaning stress and increase viability in piglets.
- Creep feeding: Provision of creep feeding to piglets is the key to increasing the rate of survivability and minimizing the weaning effect in piglets. Creep feeding refers to the technique of providing a solid diet to piglets while they are still nursing from their mother, in order to prepare their digestive systems for weaning. Creep feeding starts and encourages the development of gut and digestive enzymes, allowing the piglet to assimilate nutrients from sources other than milk. As the age of weaning approaches, creep feeding becomes more crucial and advantageous.
- Inclusion of L-glutamine: Glutamine is an essential amino acid that helps the body perform a range of functions. It is a protein-building block and an important component of the immune system. At the time of weaning, there is a drastic decline in the level of glutamine in the body. The addition of glutamine in the diet of wean-piglets improves intestinal function and overall performance (Zou et al., 2006). Glutamine in diet also reduces the chances of diarrhoea in piglets commonly known as pig scours. So the inclusion of glutamine could also prevent the effect of weaning stress by preventing piglet diarrhea which is the major cause of piglet mortality.
- Addition of nucleotide: Nucleotides are semi-essential micronutrients for tissues with a high rate of cell replication. It has also been demonstrated that an improved supply of nucleotides via the diet improves the repair of damaged DNA in the immune cells of pigs (Salobir et al., 2005). Martinez et al. (2007) found that adding nucleotides to weaned pigs’ meals reduces diarrhoea scores by 12 percent. Supplementation of pig diets with nucleotides has been demonstrated to reduce diarrhea and thus improve growth performance.
- Probiotics: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines probiotics as live microorganisms that when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. When weaning is practiced there is a drastic decline of essential microorganisms in the gut of the piglet. And there is an increased number of harmful bacteria like coli and Streptococcus spp bacteria in the gut which affects the entire intestinal function. So the addition of probiotics in the diet helps in better digestion and thus increases growth rate and FCR in the animals.
- Supply of clean wholesome drinking water: Water is an essential nutrient that should be offered round the clock. Provide at least one drinker nipple for every five to six piglets. Upgrading the water quality in the weaner areas has resulted in dramatic improvements in young pig performance. The provision of cold water to piglets can waste 5-7% of their heat energy.
- Environment and housing modifications:
The environment acts as a vital factor for the viability of the piglets during early life especially during weaning or right after weaning. Some essential measures to counteract the stress are discussed below:
- Monitoring of temperature: Temperature is one of the critical micro-environment for animal. Limited ability to regulate body temp. Thus piglets need higher room temperature. It was observed that crushing rate could be increased during thermal stress (Hollis, 2006). Young pigs are sensitive to cold temperatures as they don’t possess brown adipose tissue, which causes distress to weaned piglets. For survival of the piglets during cold stress we can use electric heating lamp for supplementing extra heat to the piglets. This will increase their survival rate.
- Weaner sty: Bedding material is the most critical component of indoor housing for any livestock. Straw is the most appropriate bedding material that could be incorporated in the weaner sty as this will provide extra warmth to the piglets. Sty should have draught free environment with minimum temperature fluctuations.
- Sanitation: Sanitation is the effective method to control pathogen load in the environment and also an important component of bio-security which includes cleaning and disinfection. Thus its application in the farm at regular interval helps to reduce morbidity rate and thereby promote growth in piglets.
https://jasbsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/2049-1891-4-19
Conclusion
Weaning is a stressful condition and it induces stress to the piglets. Reduction of post-weaning mortality can be achieved through proper identification of contributing factors and careful scientific evaluation of reduction strategies in the herd.
https://www.pashudhanpraharee.com/management-of-pig-during-summer/
