Farmscape for June 8, 2017

A researcher with the Prairie Swine Centre recommends the addition of a cocktail of enzymes to high fibre swine rations to improve digestibility and allow the pigs to maximize the health benefits of the fibre.
A range of factors are fuelling an increased interest in feeding fibre rich diets to pigs.
Dr. Atta Agyekum, a Post Doctoral Fellow with the Prairie Swine Centre, recommends using a cocktail of feed enzymes that can break down the fibre.

Clip-Dr. Atta Agyekum-Prairie Swine Centre:
You add a feed enzyme that has all of the fibre degrading enzymes in it so Beta-Glucanase will there, you have Xylanase, you have Amylase, all those cocktail and that can really help in improving the overall utilization of the fibre.
We should not be looking at fibre just from a negative point of view.
It can be used to achieve beneficial effects in the pig industry, especially now that we are trying to phase out the use of in-feed antibiotics in the nursery diets.
We can actually add a little bit of fibre that can be fermented and that can produce beneficial effects and actually improve the overall gut health and the health of the weanling pig.
We can also add up to 10 percent of fibre in our gestating diets.
That will be a top-up and that can help to reduce the hunger sensation in the gestating sows and prevent some of this aggression that we see.
Studies have shown that, when we feed fibre to gestating sows, it can improve their lactating performance and you'll wean more piglets.
But you have to feed it for more than one reproductive cycle.
That is how you'll be able to get beneficial effects with gestating sows.

Dr. Agyekum says the role of fibre in the diet is becoming ever more important, especially now that we are trying to phase out the use of in-feed antibiotics.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork