The Conversation Spain
How to get piglets to thrive without using antimicrobials
Shutterstock / Budimir Jevtic Livestock faces many challenges in the 21st century. Currently, the market requires production conditions that allow certifying high standards of food safety. At the same time, animal welfare must be maximized and the environmental impact of farms must be minimized. All this must be achieved while maintaining low production costs that allow maintaining access to food of animal origin. Almost 40% of the total meat produced worldwide corresponds to pork. Therefore, it is a fundamental pillar in the supply of protein of animal origin for the growing world human population. In this context, maximizing production efficiency is of great relevance. Currently, pig production is making a significant effort to maintain this efficiency, health and animal welfare while significantly reducing the use of antibiotics. They do so because the emergence of resistant and multi-resistant bacteria is, today, one of the greatest threats to global health and food safety. In fact, the European Union already banned in 2006 the administration of antibiotics to promote growth and increase the performance of animals. Piglet weaning, a critical moment in production In the midst of this difficult production process, post-weaning piglet diarrhea is a major problem for pig farmers across the European Union. Currently, weaning takes place between 21 and 28 days of life of the animals. Even under the best environmental conditions, it leads to intestinal dysfunction associated with local inflammation and dysbiosis of the microbiota of your digestive tract. This abrupt change in feeding, together with the separation from the mother, constitutes a major challenge for the piglets. It is the cause of significant economic losses. Currently, this post-weaning diarrhea is treated with zinc oxide and antimicrobials. However, from 2022 the use of zinc oxide and other antimicrobials will be restricted throughout the European Union. The use of antibiotics in food-producing animals for prevention or prophylaxis shall be prohibited. For this reason, given that weaning in pig production constitutes a critical stage, it is necessary to explore new strategies that aim to promote adequate animal health and welfare while maintaining productive parameters. Importance of sow’s milk Mammalian milk is a source of nutrients perfectly adapted to the physiological conditions of the first days of life. But not only that. We also know that it contains some bioactive components with the potential to promote the development of different organs, support the maturation of the immune system and contribute to the protection of newborns against diseases and infections. In this context, the Milkobiome project, funded by the European Union and the Irish Agriculture and Livestock Research Agency (TEAGASC), aims to explore bioactive factors or components in sow’s milk with the aim of identifying and elucidating its functions. It also seeks to understand its mechanisms of action and assess its potential use to improve animal health and productive performance in pig weaning. In other words, the project hopes to understand the microbiota community in sow milk to provide piglets with access to these bioactive fractions in their diet and find their beneficial effects. The Milkobiome project is carried out through a collaboration between the Pig Development Department of the Irish Teagasc and the DIGESPORC group of the University of León, in such a way that the production and pathology knowledge of both research groups is brought together. Bioactive components of sow’s milk There are several bioactive components of colostrum and milk that may be useful and that the Milkobiome group is investigating. Lactose is, without a doubt, the main sugar. But a wide variety of oligosaccharides are also relevant in milk, made up of variable combinations of between 3 and 11 monosaccharides. In general, these oligosaccharides have prebiotic activity. That is, they stimulate the multiplication of beneficial bacteria in the intestine, inhibit the adherence of microorganisms to intestinal cells, have anti-inflammatory properties and stimulate the regeneration of the intestinal epithelium. For their part, the membranes of the milk fat globules provide antimicrobial protection against bacteria and viruses in the gastrointestinal tract of newborns. They also improve the immune system and have anticancer effects. A third bioactive component that the group has been able to quantify is lactoferrin. It is a protein with the ability to resist digestion in the intestine of piglets and which stimulates immunity. In addition, it has an important antimicrobial effect, both against bacteria and viruses, and regulates inflammation in the intestinal epithelium. Finally, milk and colostrum provide a fundamental part of the microbiota that colonizes the piglet’s digestive tract. New massive sequencing techniques allow this microbiota to be characterized in detail. Bioactive compounds for piglets Thus, the intestinal health of the piglet during lactation and weaning can be associated with certain groups of colonizing bacteria and their concentration and diversity. All this linked to the mother, her milk and also her intestinal microbiota. Due to all these advantages, the project seeks to characterize these bioactive components in sow’s milk, to know the interactions between them and to investigate their potential utility as supplements in the nutrition of piglets during the weaning stage. This project aims to turn our eyes towards physiological approaches that maintain the health and well-being of animals while producing quality and safe food for humans.This article was originally published in The Conversation. Read the original. Ana Carvajal receives research funds through the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The Milkobiome project has received funding from the Research Leaders 2025 program co-financed by Teagasc and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 754380. Appeh Akwu Omede receives funding from the Research Leaders 2025 program Co-financed by Teagasc and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 754380 for the Milkobiome project. Edgar Garcia Manzanilla receives research funds from the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Diana Molina González and Hector Arguello Rodriguez do not receive salaries, nor do they carry out consulting work, nor do they own shares, nor do they receive financing from any company or organization that can obtain benefit of this article, and have declared lack of relevant links beyond the academic position cited.
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