L. Babinszky

Efficiency of fat deposition from non-starch polysaccharides, starch and unsaturated fat in pigs

The aim was to evaluate under protein-limiting conditions the effect of different supplemental energy sources: fermentable NSP (fNSP), digestible starch (dStarch) and digestible unsaturated fat (dUFA), on marginal efficiency of fat deposition and distribution. A further aim was to determine whether the extra fat deposition from different energy sources, and its distribution in the body, depends on feeding level. A total of fifty-eight individually housed pigs (48 (SD 4) kg) were used in a 3 x 2 factorial design study, with three energy sources (0.2 MJ digestible energy (DE)/kg(0.75) per d of fNSP, dStarch and dUFA added to a control diet) at two feeding levels. Ten pigs were slaughtered at 48 (SD 4) kg body weight and treatment pigs at 106 (SD 3) kg body weight. Bodies were dissected and the chemical composition of each body fraction was determined. The effect of energy sources on fat and protein deposition was expressed relative to the control treatments within both energy intake levels based on a total of thirty-two observations in six treatments, and these marginal differences were subsequently treated as dependent variables. Results showed that preferential deposition of the supplemental energy intake in various fat depots did not depend on the energy source, and the extra fat deposition was similar at each feeding level. The marginal energetic transformation (energy retention; ER) of fNSP, dStarch and dUFA for fat retention (ERfat:DE) was 44, 52 and 49 % (P>0.05), respectively. Feeding level affected fat distribution, but source of energy did not change the relative partitioning of fat deposition. The present results do not support values of energetic efficiencies currently used in net energy-based systems.

Impacts of Climate Change on Animal Production and Quality of Animal Food Products

Nowadays, almost all inhabitants of the Earth are affected by different health problems associated with nutrition, although their causes are in striking contrast with each other. In the developed societies certain chronic, non-infectious diseases are caused not only by overfeeding but also by an unhealthy ratio of the ingested nutrients. According to the statistics, 50% of deaths can be attributed to diseases of the cardiovascular system, and 30% to tumor diseases. Diet is one of the major risk factors in the development of these illnesses. That is why through changing undesirable dietary habits and consuming food more satisfactory to human nutrition requirements we may have every right to hope that an everincreasing percentage of the population can live up to their genetically determined lifespan. In addition to numerous other factors, the quality of foods of animal origin (e.g. meat) is probably influenced by the quality of feed most of all, therefore a very important area of food science research is focused on improving meat quality by feeding so that it can better meet the requirements of human nutrition. Animal nutrition in the 21st century aims to provide safe and good quality foodstuffs of animal origin besides a high efficiency of production and a low level of environmental pollution. These criteria, however, contribute to the complexity and rapid expansion of nutrition science. The continuously increasing demand of the human population needs to be supplied from a diminishing agricultural area, while maintaining the sustainability of production. According to the global trends, the challenges facing animal nutrition in the 21st century can be summarized as follows: more awareness and activity of participation is needed in animal production to supply quality and safe food in sufficient quantities, in accordance with the requirements of the society. Considering the limited nature of available agricultural area, the efficiency of animal production needs to be improved. This can be achieved by (i) increasing biological efficiency, ii) technological efficiency and iii) economic efficiency. The science of animal nutrition deals with the first two factors by using advanced knowledge. One of the practical solutions for saving grains for human consumption is to increase the amount of feedstuffs

Dietary vitamin E and fat source and lactating performance of primiparous sows and their piglets

Abstract Two experiments were performed to study the effect of levels of vitamin E and sources of dietaryfat on the reproductive performance and milk production of primiparous sows and on performance of suckling piglets. Experiment 1 was set up with two fat sources (sunflower oil and animal fat, 5% in the diet) and three levels of vitamin E (13, 48, 136 mg kg −1 feed). A total of 45 gills (7–8 animals ner treatment) received the same dietary treatment throughout pregnancy and 4 weeks of lactation. In experiment 2, two levels of vitamin E (14 and 126 mg kg −1 feed) were used in the diet during 4 weeks of lactation (1516 sows per treatment) and the milk production was measured. It was concluded that the levels of vit. E and the types of fat used had no significant effect on the litter size and live weight of piglets during suckling. The milk yield was also not affected significantly by the dietary vitamin E levels. In the animal fat group, the higher vit. E intake increased the colostral vit. E content ( P

Effect of α-tocopherol and dietary fat source on some blood and immunological variables in lactating sows

Thirty-six 7-month-old gilts were used to study the effects of different levels of a-tocopherol (13, 48, 136 mg/kg food) and different source of fat (50 g/kg sunflower oil or animal fat) in gestation and lactation diets on α-tocopherol concentration in serum, colostrum and milk and on cell-mediated and humoral immune response of lactating sows. Blood samples were taken from six sows per treatment after farrowing and at weaning (28 days of lactation) and were analysed for α-tocopherol concentration, total number of leucocytes and T- and B-lymphocyte counts. In blood lymphocyte stimulation with concanavaline, lysozyme activity and immunoglobulin concentration were also measured. In milk samples α-tocopherol and immunoglobulin concentration were determined at farrowing and at weaning. It was concluded that a high α-tocopherol level in the sows diet including either sunflower oil or animal fat increased as expected the serum α-tocopherol concentration ( P P

Innovative swine nutrition: some present and potential applications of latest scientific findings for safe pork production

Abstract One of the biggest challenges facing animal agriculture in the 21st century is to produce safe and traceable foodstuffs of animal origin in sufficient volumes and quality besides the lowest possible load on the environment. A point to consider is how animal feeding and nutrition can contribute to the solution of this challenge. Another question is, that the results of which new scientific fields should be used in the area of innovation to achieve the desired product quality. The article answers these questions based on the latest data in the scientific literature and on the authors’ own research results. Having reviewed and processed the data, the authors drew the following conclusions: 1. The impact of climate changes on crop production and consequently on animal nutrition needs to be studied in comprehensive, systematic research programs, and based on their results animal feeding systems should be modified if necessary. 2. The role of molecular nutrition and the immunological role of nutrition for enhancing the efficiency of production will gain in importance. 3. The cooperation between nutritionists and geneticists needs to be strengthened in order to satisfy the nutrient requirements more accurately, and thus to improve the profitability of production. 4. New mathematical growth models, also incorporating the quality of animal products, need to be developed for better production estimates. 5. The integrated “from farm to fork” programs will be essential in the production of safe and high quality animal food products. Animal nutrition will play a key role in these product development and monitoring programs. 6. The production of environmentally friendly animal products will become a social imperative. Animal nutrition still has huge unexploited reserves in this field, for instance in the development of novel animal feeding systems and technologies. 7. The practical implementation of precision nutrition can be of great help in achieving these goals and in improving the efficiency innovation activities.

Minimum slicing interval and frequency for CT-based prediction of pig’s body composition

Abstract The aims of our study were to test the effect of CT scanning protocol on the fattening performance of pigs, and the necessary scanning interval to accurately estimate tissue volumes in the body of pigs. A total of 16 Large White type pigs were used in this study. Pigs were kept individually and in concrete floor pen and fed at the level of 3.0 times of the maintenance energy requirements. Eight pigs were scanned at 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90 and 105kg live weight, while another eight pigs were not scanned during the fattening period. The scanning was performed with Siemens Somatom Plus spiral computer tomograph from head to tail with 10mm slice thickness and 10mm distances between the images. In conclusion restrictedly fed pigs can be examined with CT several times without negative effect on growing performance, but in the fattening phase some reduction in feed conversion can be expected. For the accurate determination of tissue volumes scanning of every 5th cm is sufficient in the 30-105 kg live weight range.

The effect of dietary phytase supplementation on the N-balance of growing pigs

Abstract Some studies suggest that dietary phytase enhance the growth rate of pigs fed P-adequate diets. This may be due to an increased N digestibility and/or improved protein gain. The aim was to study the effect of dietary phytase supplementation on the N-balance of growing pigs upon protein limiting condition. A total of 24 hybrid individually kept barrows (25kg BW) were assigned into 4 treatments. Diet in AP0 (AP: adequate protein) contained 190g/kg crude protein and no phytase supplementation, diets in RP0, RP500 and RP1000 (RP: reduced protein) contained 160g/kg crude protein and 0, 500 and 1000 FTU/kg phytase supplementation, respectively. The balance trial consisted of 7 days adaptation and 5 days collection, during which the feces and urine were collected quantitatively. Additional phytase to low protein diets increased the N-retention of the pigs (P<0.05). Supplementation of 500 FTU/kg (PR500) resulted similar N-retention as in group AP0 (P>0.05). Dietary treatments did not affect the digestibility of protein, however, 500 FTU/kg phytase supplementation increased the efficiency of N-retention. Our results show that the protein content of the feed for pigs of 20-30kg can be reduced from 190 to 160 g/kg if the diet is supplemented with 500 FTU/kg phytase without weakening the N-balance of pigs.