Project

Improving the microbial and nutritional quality of fermented liquid feed to pigs by using starter cultures

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Abstract

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Description

It has been shown that feeding fermented liquid feed can improve the gastrointestinal health of pigs by impeding the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, while feeding partially fermented liquid feed increases the number of these bacteria. The use of fermented liquid feed is limited by the fact that free amino acids are degraded during fermentation and therefore the nutritional value of the feed is reduced and there is an accumulation of microbial metabolites that affects its palatability.

The objective of the project is to find one or more starter cultures that improve the microbial and nutritional quality of fermented liquid feed by 1) impeding a blooming of potentially pathogenic bacteria in the liquid feed; 2) impeding the microbial degradation of synthetic amino acids in the liquid feed and thereby improving the gain to feed ratio; 3) improving the palatability and thereby improving the feed intake and weight gain of the pigs.

Both in vitro studies and in vivo studies to a smaller scale and under ‘on farm’ conditions will be carried out.

Financing