The nutrition of weaned piglets - review

The recent years have seen a major development in the reproductive performance of pigs. With sows bearing more piglets per litter, the birth weight of piglets has decreased. Piglets need more care and treatment in the first days of their lives. This period is crucial for subsequent stages of a piglet’s life, both in terms of its growth and health. After overcoming the first weeks of their lives, piglets are weaned. This is a critical period in a piglet’s life, as it imposes not only a nutritional stress, but also a social stress induced by separation from the sow, a change of environment and a change of social hierarchy in the newly established groups of animals. After weaning, the feed ration changes, frequently bringing about changes in the piglet’s digestive tract, digestive disorders and diarrhoea. After weaning, piglets may experience temporary anorexia, stop eating or become more prone to intestinal infections. In addition, weaning also causes a change in the intestinal flora. If piglets are to enter rearing in optimal health condition, two basic tasks must be addressed: providing feed intake and avoiding piglet diarrhoea. To gain a better understanding of the problem, we need to take a closer look at how piglets are nourished in this critical period. It is well known that piglets need a high-quality diet in the weaning period. But what does a high-quality diet mean? Nowadays, the nutrition of weaned piglets is studied by many specialist centres all around the world, including research institutes and universities as well as companies specialising in animal nutrition. If we want to feed an animal properly, we must first understand its nutritional needs, the physiological processes in its organism and the behaviour linked to feed intake. We also need to understand that it is not about precisely formulating the animal’s needs, but rather about processing, transporting and storing the feed, which brings about certain risks.