Special Edition: Early animal nutrition
Maternal influence in piglet development
When it comes to supporting piglet health and development, the first place to start may be with the sow.
A plethora of researchers have been examining ways to improve piglet health, growth and performance by adding diet ingredients including porcine plasma, iron and canola meal to sow diets.
Similarly, research done by Novus explored the potential for trace mineral supplementation in pregnant sows as a way to improve the gene expression in piglets.
And a feeding trial run by NuMeCan, INRA and the University of Rennes found similar results for piglet feed intake and growth when feed additives were given to the sow and when they were fed to both the sow and the piglet.