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Applied and Basic Investigations of Pigs Fed Novel Feed Ingredients and the Establishment of a Cecum-Cannulated and Cecectomized Pig Models
Abstract
The swine industry is constantly striving to efficiently produce healthy pork for consumers using novel feed ingredients to reduce cost and improve animal health. Research plays an important role in assessing these new strategies. Overall, the objective of this dissertation is to assess how feed additives and the cecum impact growth performance, health, microbial community structure and nutrient digestibility. In Chapter 2, grow-finisher pigs were fed a blended dietary feed additive to adjust the omega-3 fatty acid composition in the pork, while aiming to maintain growth performance and pork flavor. Overall, the pork profile of the pigs fed the Omega-3 product had higher concentrations of omega-3 and no off-flavors or differences in growth performance were detected. Chapters 3 and 4, pigs were supplemented with Lactobacillus fermentum at different timepoints of the production cycle to evaluate colonization, growth performance and overall health. No differences were seen in the growth performance of the pigs, nor were we able to detect the probiotic in milk or fecal samples Chapter 5, cecectomized pigs were fed a high fiber diet to evaluate the role of the cecum on fiber digestion. Intact animals had larger change in longissimus muscle area when compared to cecectomized animals. No differences were seen in the digestibility for nitrogen or energy. Limited differences were observed with respect to bacterial species with respect to time and dietary treatment. Chapter 6, control or high fiber diets were fed to cecum cannulated pigs to evaluate the role of the cecum and cecal microbiome in fiber digestion. Changes in the microbiome and digestibility were observed when fecal, but not cecal samples were evaluated. However, notable differences were observed when cecal and fecal samples were compared.
Subject Area
Animal sciences|Nutrition
Recommended Citation
Knapp, Josh Paul, "Applied and Basic Investigations of Pigs Fed Novel Feed Ingredients and the Establishment of a Cecum-Cannulated and Cecectomized Pig Models" (2022). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI29323356.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI29323356