We wanted to determine the influence of birth weight (normal – NBW vs. low – LBW) on pig response to a subsequent disease challenge and on the effectiveness of functional amino acid (FAA) supplementation in ameliorating this response. Weanling piglets were fed one of two dietary treatments, consisting of diets with a basal (FAA-) or functional (FAA+) amino acid profile. The FAA- diets met NRC (2012) requirements and FAA+ diets contained methionine, threonine, and tryptophan supplemented at 120% of requirements. One week after switching all pigs to a common grower diet, they were inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium.
Overall, our findings show that LBW pigs are more susceptible to the negative effects of disease challenge than NBW pigs. We also found that supplementation of nursery diets with FAA improve growth performance, reduce pathogen shedding and translocation, and improve antioxidant capacity and acute phase response. However, the beneficial effects of FAA were dependent on birth weight, with NBW pigs having a more beneficial response to FAA than LBW pigs.
Effectiveness of functional amino acids in Salmonella-challenged low and normal birth weight pigs (full article)
