Our goal was to better understand how to nutritionally manage poor-health pig flows to maximize pig performance in the face of disease pressures. Two objectives were addressed in three experimental studies. Objective #1 investigated dietary mitigation strategies to alleviate the impact of Rotavirus (and E. coli.) on nursery pig performance and mortality. Objective #2 examined the role of amino acid and energy in post disease compensatory gain. As nursery pigs are frequently faced with enteric disease challenges, Objective #1 evaluated different nutritional strategies to improve nursery pig performance in enterically challenged pig flows. These data showed that therapeutic minerals (zinc and copper) are effective at improving pig growth. Further, oat groats, soyhulls and beet pulp were all equal in pig performance. Medium chain fatty acids formulated at ~2% in the diet decreased pig performance. No differences in mortality were reported across dietary strategies examined. In objective #2, in response to PRRS virus challenge, increasing dietary Lys:ME by 115-130% at 21 days post-inoculation or infection did not increase pig performance. Thus, we conclude that the benefits of increase dietary Lys:ME are only seen when these diets are in place at the time of PRRS virus infection. Lastly, we observed no compensatory gain in post-challenge in this study. For further information, please contact Nicholas Gabler ([email protected]).

Key Findings:

  • Medium chain fatty acids attenuated nursery pig performance, while high soybean meal, modified oats and increased branch chain amino acid diets fed in phases 1 and 2 had no longitudinal impact on pig performance or health.
  • Therapeutic zinc and copper improved early nursery growth performance of enteric challenged nursery pigs.
  • No differences in pig early pig performance were observed between oat groats, soyhulls and beet pulp when formulated in the diet at 5%.
  • In response to PRRS virus challenge, increasing dietary Lys:ME by 115-130% 21 days post-inoculation or infection did not increase pig performance.
  • The benefits of increase dietary Lys:ME are only seen when these diets are in place at the time of PRRS virus infection.