Piglets Dine on Fish

As many countries phase out antibiotics in animal feeds, researchers are looking to other natural nutritional supplements to bolster the immune systems of young animals.

When piglets are weaned from their mothers breeders begin feeding the youngsters with antibiotic-laden feed. But the animals are developing resistance to the drugs making an already expensive practice less practical.

To find a new way to improve the health of young piglets, researcher Jeff Carroll of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service is investigating if fish oil supplements could be a better, cheaper solution.

"Fish oil builds immunity at the cellular level. It's absorbed and incorporated into the immune cells of the pig," Carroll says. "Finding ways to build immunity in young pigs has become more and more important over the last two decades because weaning age has been dramatically reduced."

Typically, piglets are weaned at 18 to 21 days old, but sometimes as early as 10 days. To maintain growth rates of young piglets, another industry concern, Carroll is currently feeding piglets spray-dried plasma - ironically a byproduct of the meat-packing industry. According to Carroll, the plasma may also increase immunity in pigs by preventing germs from sticking to their intestines.

This research was published in the July 2005 issue of Agricultural Research.