Weaning is a very stressful period for piglets, with dietary changes being one of the great stressors. They are transferred from an 8% fat liquid milk diet to a 5% fat dry diet that has a much lower digestibility so dietary fat supplements do not help in reducing energy intake deficits. Lecithin has been shown to improve digestibility of long-chain fatty acids in newly weaned pigs, though growth rate was not improved. Lecithin is an emulsifier that is commonly added to food and is primarily phosphatidylcholine. Lyso-lecithin was used to study the digestibility of tallow. Growth and feed intake were improved for the first three days when lecithin was added at 10% of dietary fat to the diet, with effects being greater in high energy diet. No interactions between lecithin and dietary energy or tallow were noted.
Does the Inclusion of Lyso-Lecithin (Lecired) Improve the Growth of Newly Weaned Pigs (full article)
