Feed remains the largest cost for Canadian pork producers, making efficiency gains more important than ever.

At the same time, the industry is working to reduce its environmental footprint while addressing labour shortages and meeting evolving sustainability expectations.

Precision feeding offers a practical solution to these challenges. Rather than feeding every pig the same diet, the technology adjusts nutrition to better match the needs of individual pigs or groups of pigs, reducing waste while maintaining performance.

In the first video of Swine Innovation Porc's Research in Action series, Dr. Aline Remus, Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, explores how Swine Cluster 4 Activity 8 is helping bring precision feeding closer to commercial adoption.

From research to on-farm solutions

Swine Cluster 4 Activity 8, "Decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, feeding costs and labour requirements by using precision feeding techniques in commercial pig farms," is focused on developing technologies producers can confidently adopt on their farms.

Research has shown precision feeding can reduce feed costs by 8 to 10 per cent while lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving nutrient efficiency. The project is also advancing group precision feeding, allowing diets to be tailored for pens of pigs using commercially available equipment.

Led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and supported through collaborations with researchers across Canada and internationally, the project aims to deliver practical tools that improve profitability, reduce environmental impacts and strengthen the long-term sustainability of Canadian pork production.

Watch the video to learn how Dr. Remus and her team are helping move precision feeding from the research barn to commercial farms across Canada.

Webinar highlights approaches to preventing disease and supporting responsible antimicrobial use.

Disease can affect nearly every aspect of swine production, including animal health, growth, feed efficiency, mortality, treatment costs, and the value of pigs at market. Reducing disease pressure is therefore important not only for protecting herd health and productivity, but also for supporting responsible antimicrobial use.

Swine Innovation Porc recently hosted a national webinar examining disease risk and prevention in modern swine production systems. The webinar featured presentations from Dr. Vahab Farzan of the Ontario Veterinary College and Dr. Gustavo Silva of Iowa State University.

Together, the presentations explored both a specific and costly disease challenge, post-weaning diarrhea, and the broader role of surveillance, biosecurity, and risk assessment in preventing disease.

Understanding post-weaning diarrhea

Dr. Farzan presented findings from a Swine Cluster 4 research project examining post-weaning diarrhea on Canadian swine farms.

Post-weaning diarrhea can result in dehydration, poor weight gain, reduced performance, and mortality. It is most commonly associated with enterotoxigenic E. coli, or ETEC, but the disease is influenced by several interacting factors, including the strain of bacteria, the pig’s immune status and genetics, its gut microbiome, and the farm environment.

The research is examining which strains of ETEC are causing post-weaning diarrhea on Canadian farms, how frequently pigs are genetically susceptible to these infections, and how the gut microbiome may influence the development of disease.

These findings could support the development of more targeted vaccines, genetic selection for disease resistance, and probiotics that promote better gut health.

A key conclusion from the presentation was that post-weaning diarrhea is not a single, uniform disease challenge. Different strains of E. coli may be present across provinces and individual farms, meaning that prevention strategies may need to be tailored to the pathogens and risks found in each operation.

Addressing the disease will likely require a combination of approaches rather than one universal solution.

Taking a systems approach to disease prevention

Dr. Silva expanded the discussion by examining disease prevention from a broader production-system perspective.

The cost of disease extends well beyond treatment. Disease can reduce growth rates and feed efficiency, increase mortality and variation among pigs, and result in more animals falling outside preferred market weights. These impacts can become even greater when several pathogens are present at the same time.

Disease develops through interactions among the pathogen, the animal, and the environment. Effective prevention therefore requires producers and veterinarians to understand how pathogens enter a farm, how they move through the production system, and where the greatest risks exist.

Dr. Silva emphasized that biosecurity, monitoring, surveillance, and targeted interventions all have a role to play. Biosecurity provides the foundation by reducing the likelihood that pathogens will enter or circulate within a herd. Measures such as quarantine, sanitation, controlled access, and careful management of animal, people, and equipment movements can all help reduce risk.

Monitoring and surveillance then help identify which pathogens are present and how they are moving. This allows producers and veterinarians to make more informed decisions about vaccines, medications, and other control measures.

Lessons from PRRS

Dr. Silva used porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS, to illustrate the complexity of disease prevention.

PRRS can spread rapidly, interact with other viral and bacterial pathogens, and increase the severity of respiratory disease. Vaccines can contribute to disease management but provide only partial protection, making biosecurity, surveillance, and herd stabilization particularly important.

The presence of PRRS can also increase the risk of secondary infections and the need for antibiotic treatment. Controlling primary diseases can therefore help reduce antimicrobial use by decreasing the number and severity of infections that require treatment.

This reinforces an important connection between disease prevention and antimicrobial stewardship. Reducing antimicrobial use is not simply a matter of treating fewer animals. It also depends on improving herd health so that fewer treatments are needed in the first place.

Key takeaways

Both presentations reinforced that disease prevention works best when it is informed by the pathogens and risks affecting each farm. No single intervention will address every disease challenge. Biosecurity and surveillance provide the foundation, while vaccines, genetics, probiotics, medications, and other tools can be applied more effectively when they are part of a coordinated strategy.

The webinar also highlighted the close connection between disease control, productivity, and antimicrobial stewardship. By reducing disease pressure, producers can improve pig health and performance while decreasing the need for treatment.

Overall, the session demonstrated that effective disease prevention requires both detailed knowledge of individual pathogens and a broader understanding of how disease moves through production systems.

For producers, feed costs are hard to swallow. 

As their biggest expense, it is a prime focus of research, from lower cost ingredients to greater feed efficiency. Optimizing swine diets is also top of mind in SIP’s Swine Cluster 4, including the trial “optimized field pea utilization in animal feed”.

“We wanted to explore alternate ingredients that would be less expensive for producers,” says Dr. Martin Nyachoti, professor in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba. “We chose field peas for this trial. They have been included in swine diets to some extent in the past, but there is a lack of information that has limited their use.” 

The trial aimed to gather new data on field peas as a more cost-effective option. When swine nutritionists formulate pig diets, they need accurate numbers on the digestibility of energy and nutrients in any given ingredient. Armed with those figures, they can create a feed regime that more precisely meets the pig’s energy and nutrient needs. 

“As far as feed ingredients go, energy is one of the most expensive components of swine diets,” says Dr. Nyachoti. “That is followed by protein and phosphorus. Those three elements account for the majority of producer costs, so we have tried to generate information on energy values and protein digestibility of field peas.”

More Than Just Another Ingredient 

Small Changes, Big Results

The team also explored the impact of enzyme supplements and particle size on energy and protein utilization in pig diets. 

“We have done some trials in the past showing that ingredient particle size has a profound impact on nutrient utilization,” said Dr. Nyachoti. “The goal was to further explore the impact of particle size on the nutritive value of field peas.”  

Though the impact of particle size on energy and protein was less than expected, reducing the size did improve the digestibility of some amino acids.

Like much of swine research, this trial highlights the power of knowledge to make a tangible difference on farm.

“Through our work, we hope to make swine nutritionists highly confident in working with an ingredient like field peas based on its nutritive value for pigs,” says Dr. Nyachoti. “Also, because they now have estimates of phosphorus and amino acid digestibility, they can craft those diets more precisely.”

Feeding Sustainability

By boosting pig diet efficiency, producers also reduce the volume of nutrients excreted through manure, which supports sustainable nutrition for the sector.

Of course, part of sustainability is protecting the planet, and this trial does its part.

“If we can use locally grown ingredients such as field peas, we will reduce the need for shipping ingredients to any production area from another region,” said Dr. Nyachoti. “As a result, we will use fewer fossil fuels for hauling and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) stemming from pork production.”

Research Never Stops

An often-overlooked benefit of research is that, even when you don’t produce the results you envision, the findings can inform future studies.

“One thing that surprised me was our work with protease and carbohydrate enzymes,” said Dr. Nyachoti. “Based on the chemical composition of the field peas, we expected to see significant effects in terms of improving nutrient utilization. We are now performing further experiments to understand why those improvements did not occur, and the results could help guide subsequent research.”

Looking ahead, scientists will continue to investigate the nutritive value of other ingredients that are locally grown and means of enhancing the utilization by swine. This combination of local sourcing and processing improvements offers farmers and feed producers an opportunity to utilize competitively priced feed ingredients, lowering feed costs and promoting regional agriculture. 

If you want to kill the buzz at a party, bring up diarrhea. 

Though it’s rarely discussed off the farm, the condition is a major concern for producers, sparking science to look for solutions. 

Given the stakes, developing an alternative and environmentally friendly strategy to combat PWD and improve the overall health of pigs is imperative. Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) is caused by a group of E. coli that produce special toxins, and is widespread in swine production today. In addition to causing stress for the animals, it does the same for their owners by harming growth performance and increasing mortality in the barn.

In many cases, farms rely on antibiotics to treat PWD. Given the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria associated with livestock farming, pressure is growing to phase out the drugs completely, with some countries already banning their use in feed to promote growth. Under the heading “the cure is worse than the disease”, heavy metals like zinc oxide (ZnO) have proved effective in controlling PWD, yet have come under considerable scrutiny for their negative effects on animal health and the environment. These metals can accumulate in vital organs like the pancreas and liver, and can also damage the environment by contaminating soil and water.

Probiotics: All pros and no cons

Now that we know what doesn’t work, only one question remains: what does? Based on recent studies, the addition of probiotic bacteria (live microorganisms that are intended to have health benefits when consumed) to the diet has a number of advantages for piglets during weaning: improved nutrient digestibility, reduced pathogen levels, greater gut immunity and enhanced overall growth performance.

As a further benefit, including specific probiotics in pig feed could help reduce the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the intestine. One such probiotic – lactobacillus – has been studied extensively for this purpose, and is now being used in commercial applications.

The right spore for the chore

Another promising option in the PWD battle is a particular strain of Bacillus species, known as Bacillus subtilis. Bacilli are rod-shaped bacteria that can form spores and survive in harsh conditions. These bacteria are plentiful, residing in soil, water, dust and air, and will thrive in various temperatures. Furthermore, their ability to create spores at high temperatures and endure low pH environments make Bacillus subtilis a robust strain that could be developed as an in-feed probiotic supplement. In recent studies, augmenting pig diets with a probiotic-based in Bacillus subtilis reduced the incidence and severity of diarrhea and enhanced growth performance by boosting immunity in weanling piglets.

If the eyes glaze over at terms like lactobacillus and Bacillus subtilis, the benefits of this study should be eye-opening for producers. Apart from addressing PWD caused by E. coli, the inclusion of Bacillus-based probiotics in nursery pig diets may reduce the presence of feed-induced diarrhea and help maintain or improve growth performance. This is significant, since weaning-associated diarrhea can also be triggered by economical diets which are mostly plant-based (corn and soybean meal-based).

Because feed cost is a huge burden on the industry, less costly regimens are often necessary, but they have also been associated with a higher incidence of diarrhea and lower intestinal integrity (the ability of the intestine to maintain its structure and function).

It takes a village

Good research is an investment in the future, so the scientists in this study were grateful for financial support from Swine Innovation Porc (SIP), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and CBS Bio Platforms Canada.

From the University of Guelph’s Department of Animal Biosciences, a number of research minds joined forces for the project: Dr. Julang Li, professor; Sudhanshu Sudan (a PhD student at the time, now a research scientist at U of G); Dr. Lee-Anne Huber, assistant professor; Dr. Robert Friendship, professor, Ontario Veterinary College; Dr. Elijah Kiarie, professor; Xiaoshu Zhan, Ph.D. candidate; Lauren Fletcher, Ph.D. candidate; and Serena Dingle, M. Sc.

Also integral to the project were Rob Patterson, vice president - Innovation & Commercialization at CBS Bio-Platforms, and the animal care and sampling assistance provided by the Arkell Swine barn staff, research associates Cuilan Zhu and Douglas Wey, and undergraduate research interns. Metabolite sample processing and data extraction were delivered by Robert Flick, Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics Services Manager at BioZone, University of Toronto.

Based on the current results, low-dose supplementation can achieve significant improvements in growth performance in a research environment. From here, larger studies in a similar setting, as well as in production/commercial settings, must be conducted to confirm these findings.

While there is still work ahead, this study adds to a limited body of research on the use of probiotics as an alternative to ZnO and antibiotics in guarding against PWD. The results also suggest that supplementing piglets with a novel bacillus-based probiotic may improve feed efficiency and growth performance, offering an economical feeding strategy to benefit producers around the world.

As a dinner topic, that sure beats diarrhea.

The pork sector is full of acronyms: ADG (average daily gain); FCR (feed conversion ratio); and of course, BYOB. 

For producers, the one they could do without is PED. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, which causes vomiting, diarrhea and often mortality, has wreaked havoc on pigs around the world, and science is helping to combat it on a number of fronts. Most recently, researchers targeted a common mode of disease transmission – trailers – as they strove to improve cleaning methods and boost biosecurity in the Canadian swine transport industry.

What started as an effort to save time and money when cleaning hog trailers took on added meaning in early 2014. That was when the federal agriculture minister called industry with a chilling pronouncement: “PED is now in Canada”. The disease that first hit North America in the United States, costing their pork sector billions of dollars, was here, and producers were in panic mode.

PED prevention partners

For guidance on how to proceed, the federal government and pork producers asked the University of Saskatchewan to lead efforts to stop the transmission of PED and other diseases that can result from transporting animals.  Researchers consulted with a PED advisory committee comprised of members from across the country, including transport companies, provincial pork associations, packers, producers and swine veterinarians. 

Together, the parties identified priorities around PED prevention, starting with how to clean trailers thoroughly enough that no trace of the virus remained on board. Working with the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, scientists devised a high-pressure washer and vacuum system that would reach every corner of a trailer and blast out clumps of manure or any other material that might harbour PED.

The washer was a good start, so the next step was developing a remotely controlled system that would allow complete cleaning of trucks without the need for human workers entering the trailer. This involved trying different technologies, including a small robot vehicle used by the military to pick up explosive packages and safely detonate them. Eventually, the project partnered with Truck Wash Technologies Inc. in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to advance its gantry-style wash system for their purposes. This system moves across the length of the vehicle in multiple passes, simultaneously cleaning the exterior and interior of swine transport trailers.

Feeling the heat

Researchers were also tasked with finding the optimal level at which to heat trailers, so that if any trace of the pathogen remained after washing, it would be deactivated. Collaborating with VIDO-InterVac in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the research team concluded that heating the trucks at 75°C for 20 minutes would be sufficient to kill the threat.

Sensor-ship

The challenge with heating was that some areas of a hog trailer, such as behind gates and walls, can be harder to warm sufficiently. In response, the team looked for sensors that could be installed in trailer trouble spots and monitor temperatures. Though they found a company that specialized in sensors to assist in this effort, it overlooked one small detail: pigs eat sensors.

Undeterred, the University of Saskatchewan engineers collaborated with the sensor company, Transport Genie in Burlington, Ontario, to develop sensors and insulate them properly to protect against curious snouts. The new sensors deliver GPS traceability of swine transport trailers, continuously measure environmental conditions during transport of animals and verify that trailer trouble spots reach the required time and temperature during heat treatment.

Idle threats? Not a chance

Though the early panic from PED in Canada has subsided, it and other diseases continue to threaten the swine sector. Thanks to this project, the risk of transmitting pathogens during transport has been drastically reduced, saving producers millions of dollars per year from illness and death loss. Findings from the study have raised the biosecurity bar, and heating trailers at 75°C for 20 minutes is now the industry standard.

Based on this project, Prairie Swine Centre has developed guidelines to assist designers in considering animal welfare and biosecurity with new trailers.

As a further benefit, scientists are working with trucking companies to install their sensors, not only for biosecurity, but to warn drivers when the temperature and humidity levels are endangering their pig passengers. Apart from enhancing animal welfare, this move will aid both trucking companies and packers, as each is responsible for the pigs once in their possession.

Driven by the project lead, Dr. Terry Fonstad, Associate Vice-President Research (Ethics and Infrastructure) at the University of Saskatchewan, this study drew on funding from Swine Innovation Porc (SIP) and expertise from several corners: Prairie Swine Centre, PAMI, Truck Wash Technologies Inc., Transport Genie Ltd, the PED advisory committee and VIDO-InterVac.

Arms race

As the world learned the hard way from COVID-19, we must always stay a step ahead of the enemy. In that spirit, researchers are addressing what happens if a trace amount of virus survives washing and heating of the trailer and imbeds itself in a biofilm for self-protection. A biofilm is a thick layer of organisms that gather to form a colony.

With the attention garnered by their findings, researchers are now fielding calls from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) about other diseases of concern, such as African Swine Fever (ASF), and how to defend against them.

As the world scrambles to address important diseases like COVID, it's African swine fever (ASF) that's turning up the heat on the hog sector. 

A serious viral disease of pigs that can cause fever, internal bleeding and high death rates, ASF is extremely contagious, spreading rapidly through both direct and indirect contact with infected pigs or pig products. 

Though there is a concerted effort to keep it out of Canada, such was the case with COVID-19, and we know how that turned out. In helping industry prepare for a worst case scenario, Dr. Aruna Ambagala presented a talk on “Diagnosis of ASF using Alternative Sample Types” as part of SIP’s webinar “African Swine Fever: How is Canada Getting Prepared?” at the 2021 Banff Pork Seminar.

With any virus, diagnosis is critical, and that is doubly true with a disease like ASF that can be hard to spot on farm. Though Canada has cutting edge diagnostic tools, the danger from the virus, and the ambiguous clinical signs that often accompany it, have scientists focused on continuous improvement.

“We have two options when it comes to ASF diagnosis,” said Dr. Aruna Ambagala, a research scientist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease (NCFAD) in Winnipeg. Dr. Ambagala is head of the Mammalian Disease Unit and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Reference Lab for Classical Swine Fever at the NCFAD. “We can either look at the virus itself, or at the antibodies to the virus.”

When looking for the genomic material of ASF virus, scientists use a real-time PCR screening test available at the NCFAD and at labs that are part of the Canadian Animal Health Surveillance Network (CAHSN). The CAHSN is a network of federal, provincial, and university animal health laboratories across Canada.

Testing Time

The PCR test, which requires two to four hours to complete and review, can be employed in ongoing outbreaks to detect ASF in pigs. Following this test, additional tests will be performed at the NCFAD to confirm the results.

“If a pig is dead, we request a full post-mortem and submit tissue samples such as tonsils, spleen, liver, kidney or lung,” said Dr. Ambagala. “The most important sample for detection of ASF and other viruses like classical swine fever are the tonsils, and bone marrow is requested if the carcass is decomposed.”

For the antibody option, which is used to find evidence of past virus exposure, an ELISA based test is carried out to spot the antibodies in serum samples months or years after infection. ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is an immunological assay commonly used to measure antibodies, antigens, proteins and glycoproteins in biological samples.

Given some limitations to the ELISA based test, additional tests using whole blood or serum samples must be done to confirm the results.

Surveillance based on individual animal sampling can come at considerable expense and increased labour requirements, as each pig must be handled separately, or a full post-mortem completed. In an attempt to ease that burden, researchers on this project examined alternative sample types for live groups of animals and herds with high mortality.

“For group samples, we are looking at oral fluids and processing fluids. In the case of samples from carcasses, we need ones that can be collected quickly and safely from dead pigs without a full post-mortem, such as lymph nodes accessible through the skin, skin biopsies, ear notches, ears and meat swabs.”

The facts on fluids 

As a mode of sampling, oral fluids have several advantages. They are a rich sample that is easy to collect, as producers can simply hang a rope from the ceiling and wait for pigs to chew on it.

Oral fluids have proven effective for detection of PRRSV [Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus], PCV2 [Porcine circovirus type 2] and SIV [Swine influenza virus]. Last, but certainly not least, they can be collected in a manner that is humane and non-invasive.

Of course, testing with oral fluids needs to be validated for accuracy before it can be widely used. To that end, the NCFAD is assessing the effectiveness of these fluids for early ASF detection in a project with the Plum Island Animal Disease Center of New York.

“We inoculated four pigs in a pen with ASF and found we could identify the oral fluid before the animals showed real clinical signs. We then repeated that experiment on a larger scale with similar results.”

Since more validation is always better in scientific circles, field evaluations are planned for Vietnam, as well as more lab testing here at home. “We are also looking in more detail at the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and measurement of uncertainty of the oral fluid samples. We are trying different instrumentation and technicians, and, because these samples can be tricky to work with, we are planning to conduct a reproducibility experiment where we test the same oral fluid samples at two labs to ensure our detection is accurate.”

Science is all about collaboration, and this project is no exception. Working to enhance the effectiveness of ASF detection in oral fluids, Dr. Ambagala and colleagues are teaming up with Iowa State University. They also want to gauge the effectiveness of commercial PCR kits to spot ASF in oral fluids, and will partner with Kansas State University to drive that effort.

The other option being considered for ASF detection is processing fluid, which is collected during castration and tail docking. “With processing fluids, we are targeting breeding herds and suckling pigs, two groups that are not well suited to oral fluid testing because they won’t go after the rope that is used to collect the fluids. 

If we can target these groups with this sample type, we will expand our ability to screen our swine herds, and to do so with much less strain on producer finances and human resources.”

To offer veterinarians a third choice to replace complicated post-mortem sampling, scientists are investigating alternative sample types. Research continues on practical, affordable ways to diagnose ASF, but until there is a viable vaccine, alternative sample types may be our best shot.

Also called DON, vomitoxin is produced by Fusarium fungi that cause fusarium head blight in corn, wheat and barley. 

Vomitoxin can be toxic when inhaled, absorbed through the skin, or consumed at very low concentration levels, so that even small amounts may be harmful to humans and animals.

In pigs, vomitoxin at levels above 1 ppm (parts per million) may cause a reduction in feed intake and growth rate. These effects become even more pronounced at higher concentrations, leading to significant losses for producers. In response, researchers sought strategies for detoxifying vomitoxin using innovative chemical and biological approaches in post-weaning piglets.

For this project, the starting point was sodium metabisulfite (SMBS), an inorganic compound used as a disinfectant, antioxidant and preservative agent with certain food. Scientists already know that this compound can transform vomitoxin in vitro and reduce its toxicity, but what about adding it directly to the feed so it detoxifies DON in the piglet’s gut?

Water worries

One challenge with this approach is that SMBS is highly sensitive to moisture. When exposed to water in the body, it decomposes quickly to produce gas that upsets the stomach. As a means of protecting SMBS, researchers used different fats to create technologies that encapsulate the compound and produce microparticles that can be mixed with feed for consumption by the animals.

Based on their trial results, scientists may have solved the DON dilemma. To gauge how effectively SMBS neutralizes the impact of vomitoxin, they combined the chemical with DON-contaminated feed, fed it to post weaning piglets and monitored the results. Whereas such feed normally impairs or halts pig growth, the coated SMBS managed to reverse the negative effects on growth performance.

Protecting health and wealth

For producers, DON contamination is first and foremost a feed-management and animal-performance issue. Pigs are particularly sensitive to DON. Contaminated feed can reduce feed intake, slow growth and limit the use of affected grain in swine diets.

When DON concentrations are too high, contaminated ingredients may need to be excluded, diluted with uncontaminated grain or used at limited inclusion rates. This can increase feed costs and reduce the value of affected crops.

A technology that reduces the effects of DON could therefore help producers protect pig health, maintain growth performance and make better use of available feed ingredients. Further research under commercial conditions will be needed to determine whether the approach works consistently and is practical and cost-effective on farm.

A coast to coast approach

A project that is addressing a worldwide issue and forging new technology is a huge undertaking with a lot of moving parts, and this study was no exception. Backed by funding from Swine Innovation Porc (SIP), Ontario Pork and Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), the research team was comprised of members from across the country and spanned universities, government and research facilities.

AAFC in Guelph was well represented with research scientists Dr. Joshua Gong and Dr. Qi Wang, as well as Dr. Dion Lepp, biologist and manager of the Guelph Research and Development Centre’s genomics lab.

Participating from Quebec was Dr. Martin Mondor, research scientist with the Saint-Hyacinthe Research and Development Centre.

Out west, the University of Manitoba’s (U of M) Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences provided a number of collaborators: Dr. Chengbo Yang, associate professor, Department of Animal Science; and Dr. Song Liu, professor, Department of Biosystems Engineering.

While pleased with their progress thus far, the team plans to seek more funding to continue their research and examine how their findings hold up in a barn setting. While they can’t stop vomitoxin from sounding bad, they hope to make it a bit less scary in the years ahead.

When it comes to feeding your animals, forget about nice linens and gourmet meals. 

To support their growth and well-being, pigs need good, nutritious food on a regular basis. The challenge for producers is to offer those meals without breaking the bank. Given ever rising feed costs and the volume required on farm, especially for growing-finishing pigs, scientists investigated new options to diversify the ingredient supply and methods for getting the most from nutrients in pig diets.

Today, a burgeoning global population and rapidly evolving climate change have altered the food producing environment. More than ever, alternative ingredients, especially proteins and fats, are required to sustain the pork sector, the food chain and the planet. To give producers the greatest return on their feed investment, those ingredients must be of high quality and able to maximize pig performance.

A healthy pulse

With those ends in mind, researchers focused on a few key areas in these studies. First, they looked to characterize the nutrient content of Canadian grown pulses, which have gained attention as alternatives for inclusion in current swine diets. These pulses included two varieties of field peas, as well as lentils, chickpeas and faba beans. They also aimed to understand how pelleting and extrusion under different conditions affect the nutrient content of the ingredients.

Pelleting is the process of converting finely ground mash feed into dense, free flowing pellets. Pelleting a diet makes it easier to handle feed and helps reduce feed waste, while supporting optimal performance. Research has demonstrated that pelleted feed supports roughly a 7% increase in feed efficiency.

Extrusion, which involves applying heat, moisture, and pressure to an ingredient, can improve energy and protein digestibility for pigs, and the heat treatment increases the storage life of pulses by reducing water content.

Amino acids to the rescue

The project also measured the digestibility of amino acids in faba beans, lentils and yellow field peas. Since pigs are unable to synthesize all of the amino acids required to function normally, they must obtain many of them from feed ingredients.

Based on their work, researchers now have sufficient nutrient data on Canadian grown field peas, lentils, chickpeas and faba beans for these ingredients to be considered for inclusion in swine diets.

Dare to be different

While pulses are rich in macro and micronutrients, the study noted that various cultivars differ in what they can provide and how they react to processing treatments. Overall, however, there were no extreme detrimental effects of processing on nutrient content of the pulses, specifically in relation to protein and amino acid content.

For swine nutritionists, the results also warned against making assumptions on how the nutrients of one pulse ingredient might change due to processing, simply by comparing it to another pulse ingredient.

As for pork producers, they will now have more quality, low-cost feed options. Additionally, they can consider different processes, such as extrusion, to improve the digestibility and availability of nutrients.

Teams work

Three people led the way on this project:  Dr. Kate Shoveller, professor, Animal Biosciences at the University of Guelph (U of G); Dr. Dan Columbus, research scientist – nutrition at the Prairie Swine Centre (PSC) in Saskatoon and adjunct professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S); and Cara Cargo-Froom, a PhD student at the time and currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the U of G.

Other key experts involved were Dr. Rex Newkirk, associate professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the U of S; Dr. Yongfeng Ai, associate professor, Food and Bioproduct Sciences, U of S; Dr. Olufemi Babatunde, postdoctoral researcher- Nutritional Physiology at the PSC; and Dr. Chris Marinangeli, former Director of Nutrition, Science & Regulatory Affairs with Pulse Canada and currently Senior Director, Research and Regulatory Affairs at Pulse Canada.

Although scientists can now draw broad generalizations about changes in nutrients across pulses or within a pulse category (e.g., changes in beans), there is more to be done. Understanding how processing can affect each category of pulse, and the varieties within the category, can provide much needed insight on the specific varieties of interest.

As part of her ongoing program, Dr. Shoveller will continue to seek quality protein sources for pigs, dogs, cats and horses.