Gastric ulcers in pigs are a concern for the industry. To be able to study gastric ulcer formation, an experimental model is required that will consistently result in gastric ulcers in pigs. The objectives of this pilot study were to see if an extra stressor in the form of an out-of-feed event was needed to create gastric ulcers in pigs fed 40% pea starch in their diets. A total of 90 finisher pigs (90.6 ± 2.2 kg initial BW) were housed in a group of 5 pigs/pen and fed 40% pea starch for 14 d before a 0, 16, or 24-hr out-of-feed event. On d 28, 3 pigs/pen were sent to a commercial abattoir and their stomach tissues harvested for lesion scoring. A control group fed a commercial diet, and no out-of-feed event was used to monitor and compare performance.
Pigs fed 40% pea starch diets had good growth performance, but lower feed efficiency than control pigs fed the commercial diet. Out of a total of 36 pig stomachs scored, 8.3 % had no ulcers (0), 47.2% had less severe ulcers (1 and 2) and 44.4% had severe to very severe ulcers (3 and 4). All 12 pigs experiencing a 24-hr out-of-feed event, 11 out of 12 pigs from the 16-h out-of-feed group, and 10 out of 12 pigs from the 0-hr out-of-feed group had some form of ulcer. It can be concluded that feeding 40% pea resulted in gastric ulcers in pigs, or that gastric ulcers are a common occurrence, and an out-of-feed event is not necessary for future research trials looking at gastric ulcers.
Out of feed events and gastric ulcers in finishing pigs fed 40% pea-starch diets (full article)
