Meeting modern challenges in pig feed

We help pig farmers use the most effective swine feed so that they can operate profitably, sustainably and with high animal welfare standards.

Pig producers face many challenges, including high feed costs and disease outbreaks. The three biggest pressures come from:

1. Facing the sustainability challenge and the requirement to comply with regulations to reduce nitrogen and ammonia emissions.

2. Coping with legislation on banning the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) and zinc oxide (ZnO) in pig feed to control diarrhea in weaned pigs, resulting increased gut health challenges and poor immune status.

3. Pig and sow performance below genetic potential due to sub-optimal health, heat stress and poor swine feed quality (not meeting nutrient requirements).

Major pig challenges affected by the complex interaction among environment, nutrition and microbiota

To feed the growing world population, we need to produce more animal protein but in a sustainable and efficient way. One effective method is to lower the dietary crude protein (CP) levels in diets and to balance them with feed-grade amino acids (AAs) for an adequate level of all AAs combined with formulations on a net energy (NE) basis. Replacing a portion of protein with AAs improves nitrogen utilization, reduces nitrogen excretion, and lowers pig feed costs. On average, 1%-point dietary CP reduction results in a 9% reduction in N excretion, and 12% lower ammonia emission which contribute towards more sustainable pig production.

Post-weaning diarrhea is a major challenge for the pork industry, particularly when AGPs and zinc oxide are not used. Feeding low CP diets improves gut microbiota balance and reduces post-weaning diarrhea incidence. Combining low protein diets with extra functional amino acids, probiotics, organic acids, phytogenic and/or beneficial fibers can improve gut integrity, microbiota balance, and immune status, which can be applied as a holistic approach to reduce diarrhea incidence without AGPs and ZnO.

An adequate amount of AAs (nutrients) and energy needs to be supplied in the swine feed to ensure efficient and sustainable pig production. Evonik’s AMINONIR® service, using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, makes it possible to rapidly analyze the composition of AAs and the energy of the raw materials, which can be used for pig and feed producers for a precise feed formulation. Under immune challenge and heat stress conditions, the requirement of some functional AAs including threonine, methionine, and tryptophan relative to lysine are increased. The consultancy provided by Evonik’s swine experts can support in balancing the ideal ratios of these functional AAs based on the challenge faced by the pigs.

Our products & solutions for pig feed and the swine industry can help producers succeed in managing sustainable and profitable pig farms: