The Effect of Feeding Liquid or Dry Creep Feed on Growth Performance, Feed Disappearance, Enzyme Activity and Number of Eaters in Suckling Piglets

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The transition from sow’s milk to a vegetable-based diet around weaning is one of the most critical periods in a pig’s life, due to the strong association between undigested nutrients and post weaning diarrhoea. For practical and economic reasons, piglets are weaned before their gastro-intestinal tract has fully developed. Early provision of creep feed could be one way of promoting gut maturation and may thus be used as a preventive tool for post weaning diarrhoea instead of medicinal zinc oxide. Increasing the activity of enzymes involved in the digestive processes might enhance gut maturation, thereby preparing the piglet for weaning. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dry and liquid creep feed on growth performance, enzyme activity and the number of pigs actually consuming creep feed. In conclusion, in this on-farm setup, the pigs fed the dry diet displayed a greater enzyme activity in the proximal part of the small intestine and a higher weight gain, suggesting more mucosal maturation and adaptation to a vegetable-based diet. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two dietary treatments (liquid creep feed (LCF) and dry creep feed (DCF)) offered during the suckling period on feed disappearance, number of eaters, and intestinal enzymatic development at weaning in an on-farm study with 347 piglets. Piglets were allocated to either the DCF or LCF treatment from day 10 to day 24 postpartum for 9 h a day. Red ferric oxide (1%) was added to the diet to categorize piglets into eating categories (good eaters, moderate eaters, or non-eaters) via faecal swabs. At weaning, 40 piglets were sampled for intestinal enzymatic development. The LCF treatment increased the dry matter disappearance from day 10–18 (p < 0.001). The percentage of good eaters, moderate eaters and non-eaters did not differ between treatments (p > 0.05). The DCF pigs displayed greater average daily gain (ADG) pre-weaning (p = 0.024), and a greater body weight (BW) at day 61 (p < 0.001). The activity of lactase, maltase and sucrase in the proximal part of the small intestine were greatest (p < 0.001) in the DCF pigs.