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Amino acid supplementation counteracts negative effects of low protein diets on tail biting in pigs more than extra environmental enrichment.

ABSTRACT: Low protein (LP) diets may increase the occurrence of damaging behaviours, like tail biting, in pigs. We investigated the effect of supplementing a LP diet with indispensable amino acids (IAA) or environmental enrichment on tail biting. Undocked pigs (n = 48 groups of 12) received either a normal protein diet (NP), a LP, LP with supplemented IAA (LP⁺), or LP diet with extra environmental enrichment (LP-E⁺) during the starter, grower, and finisher phase. Performance, activity, behaviour, and body damage were recorded. LP and LP-E⁺ had a lower feed intake, growth, and gain-to-feed ratio, and were more active than NP and LP⁺ pigs. LP-E⁺ pigs interacted most often with enrichment materials, followed by LP, LP⁺, and NP pigs. LP pigs showed more tail biting than all other groups during the starter phase and the finisher phase (tendency) compared to NP and LP⁺ pigs. Thus, LP-E⁺ only reduced tail biting in the starter phase, whereas LP⁺ tended to do so throughout. Tail damage was more severe in LP pigs than in NP and LP⁺, with LP-E⁺ in between. In conclusion, IAA supplementation was more effective than extra environmental enrichment in countering the negative effects of a low protein diet on tail biting in pigs.

SUBMITTER: Minussi I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10630283 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Amino acid supplementation counteracts negative effects of low protein diets on tail biting in pigs more than extra environmental enrichment.

Minussi Ilaria I Gerrits Walter J J WJJ Jansman Alfons J M AJM Gerritsen Rosemarijn R Lambert William W Zonderland Johan J JJ Bolhuis J Elizabeth JE

Scientific reports 20231107 1

Low protein (LP) diets may increase the occurrence of damaging behaviours, like tail biting, in pigs. We investigated the effect of supplementing a LP diet with indispensable amino acids (IAA) or environmental enrichment on tail biting. Undocked pigs (n = 48 groups of 12) received either a normal protein diet (NP), a LP, LP with supplemented IAA (LP<sup>+</sup>), or LP diet with extra environmental enrichment (LP-E<sup>+</sup>) during the starter, grower, and finisher phase. Performance, activit ...[more]

PMID: 37935708

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Project description:Tail-biting (TB) in pigs is a serious behavioral disorder. It is an important challenge in swine production as it impacts animal welfare and health and the economics and safety of the pork meat supply chain. To prevent TB, approaches including enrichment material and tail docking are proposed but none are optimal. Nutrition appears to be an important factor in TB behavior, perhaps by modulating the intestinal microbiota (IM). Our aim was to assess the association between TB behavior and IM in pigs through comparisons of IM in groups of biter, bitten and non-biter/non-bitten pigs. Each group composed of 12 pigs was formed at the beginning of the growing/finishing phase based on a target behavior analysis centered on TB behavior for the biter group and a score of damages caused to the tail for the bitten group. Blood and fecal samples were collected from each pig during a TB episode, at time 0, t0, and when the TB episode was considered finished, 4 weeks later, at time 1, t1. Serum cortisol level was determined by ELISA and used as an indicator of stress. The pig's fecal microbiota was analyzed from DNA extracted from freshly collected fecal matter using amplicon sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. Serum cortisol levels were significantly higher in either the biter or bitten pig groups compared to the negative control group (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01, respectively). The microbiota alpha-diversity was not significantly different between all groups, biter, bitten and negative control. Analyses of beta-diversity, however, revealed a significant difference between either the biter or the bitten group in comparison to the non-biter/non-bitten negative control group in terms of structure and composition of the microbiota. Lactobacillus were significantly more abundant in the negative control group compared to the two other groups (p = 0.001). No significant difference was revealed between the biter and bitten groups. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) confirmed that lactobacilli were more abundant in the negative control group. Our study indicates that TB behavior is associated with the IM composition in pigs.

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Amino acid supplementation counteracts negative effects of low protein diets on tail biting in pigs more than extra environmental enrichment.

Publications

Amino acid supplementation counteracts negative effects of low protein diets on tail biting in pigs more than extra environmental enrichment.

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