FoN: Yeast (Candida utilis) health effect on weaner pig diarrhea
The SFI “Foods of Norway” is developing experimental diets for farm animals and fish using sustainable local feed ingredients to reduce reliance on imported feed, which is both of economic and environmental benefit. The experimental diets contain proteins derived from yeast that are produced from sugars and other nutrients derived from wood.
Studies in pigs show that the experimental diets were able to replace the imported protein ingredients without adverse impact on growth performance and digestibility. In Norway, weaner pig diarrhea is a problem for some pig rearing facilities but not for other similar facilities.
The aim of the present study will be to determine whether a yeast-based diet could have a protective effect against post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) caused by E. coli in Norwegian pig rearing facilities. Exposure to the bacterial pathogen is expected to cause a mild to moderate diarrhea with moderate clinical symptoms. We will study the gut morphology, immune response, gut microbiome, and overall performance of piglets.
A total of 80 weaned pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) will be included in the study. We have designed this experiment with the smallest possible number of animals that would be likely to enable us to obtain statistically valid results with the known individual variation in intestinal health and microbiome response parameters in pigs.
We are performing a feeding trial in animals exposed to a bacterial challenge and want to assess parameters such as intestinal morphology, intestinal immunology, intestinal microbiome. In vitro and in silico methods are not sufficiently predictive for this type of investigation. Also, the effect of feed is dependent on a complex interplay between feed ingredients, the intestinal microflora and the numerous cells of the intestinal wall. This interplay cannot be reproduced in a laboratory.
Studies in pigs show that the experimental diets were able to replace the imported protein ingredients without adverse impact on growth performance and digestibility. In Norway, weaner pig diarrhea is a problem for some pig rearing facilities but not for other similar facilities.
The aim of the present study will be to determine whether a yeast-based diet could have a protective effect against post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) caused by E. coli in Norwegian pig rearing facilities. Exposure to the bacterial pathogen is expected to cause a mild to moderate diarrhea with moderate clinical symptoms. We will study the gut morphology, immune response, gut microbiome, and overall performance of piglets.
A total of 80 weaned pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) will be included in the study. We have designed this experiment with the smallest possible number of animals that would be likely to enable us to obtain statistically valid results with the known individual variation in intestinal health and microbiome response parameters in pigs.
We are performing a feeding trial in animals exposed to a bacterial challenge and want to assess parameters such as intestinal morphology, intestinal immunology, intestinal microbiome. In vitro and in silico methods are not sufficiently predictive for this type of investigation. Also, the effect of feed is dependent on a complex interplay between feed ingredients, the intestinal microflora and the numerous cells of the intestinal wall. This interplay cannot be reproduced in a laboratory.