The pig gut: In theory and practice
Many events in the pig industry these days revolve around gut health. Now how can you make sure that an international event makes a permanent impression on delegates? One way is by not only talking about the pig gut, but also giving them a practical experience in the necropsy room.
In front of veterinarian Bruno Muro, on a spotless white table, is a dead weaner pig. Barely larger than a cat, the ice cold and motionless animal must have died less than 24 hours ago. Muro is holding a large knife, whilst his hands, tucked in green plastic gloves are bathing in light and a camera follows his every move as he speaks.
The vet explains some of the steps in a necropsy with piglets that suffered sudden death.* First, a check is needed if there had been any neurological defects – and he slides off the animal’s head almost completely, inspecting the neck. Next, it is time to open up the chest and belly – with a few quick moves he cuts through the tendons at all 4 legs so they give way for an easier look inside. What follows is much like a reverse jigsaw. Lungs, heart, liver, pancreas, spleen come out and are being examined, cut open and observed. The animal has a full stomach in combination with an empty gut – a first educated guess towards cause of death would be oedema disease, caused by E. coli, Muro says. Further lab tests will have to follow to check that hypothesis.
what actually happens inside a pig?
Daily routine
In PoulPharm, close to Roeselare in Belgium, the above is daily routine. Trained veterinarians do this type of research very often, it takes them 10 to 20 minutes per animal. But on this day in October 2024, a group of 53 pig professionals from various continents try to catch a glimpse of the animal whose body parts are now being spread out across the table. Apart from several vets, the group contains nutritionists and 1 journalist.
For those without a veterinary degree, necropsies may not be day-to-day business. Yet, they are vital in order to understand why piglets live, eat and thrive – or suffer, starve and perish. The question “what actually happens inside a pig?” was therefore key at the first-ever Porcine Health & Nutrition Masterclass, organised by feed additive manufacturer Innovad. After having organised various events like these for the poultry industry, the company wanted to bring together pig vets and nutritionists in a similar fashion.
So apart from doing necropsies and a lab visit, the 3-day event in Belgium revolved around learning. Several technical, high-quality speakers had been invited who could speak for 75 to 90 minutes uninterruptedly, followed by thorough question and answer sessions.
A journey through the gut
The event, which mostly took place in Ghent, was kicked off by a presentation by emeritus Prof. Richard Ducatelle, who is attached to Ghent University. In an entertaining style, his presentation explained where various challenges could take place inside a pig’s gastro-intestinal tract (GIT). A recurring picture showed the bacteria density present in the GIT and this started out with the stomach, then the caecum, the jejunum, the ileum, etc. Each part of the gastro-intestinal tract has its own characteristics, its own function, its own bacteria density and also its own microbiome, he said.
Acids in the stomach tend to make bacteria groggy, Prof. Ducatelle explained, and that’s useful because then they will not compete for the nutrients when they need to be taken up by the host animal in the small intestine. After all, he said, most of the nutrients are absorbed in the small intestines. The colon, he called the intestinal fermentation vessel. Ideally, that area should be dominated by butyrate producing bacteria.
A deep dive into S. suis
Streptococcus suis was the topic of the talk of the next speaker, Prof. Marcelo Gottschalk, who works the University of Montréal in Canada. He introduced the pathogen as one giving a headache to experts. After all, is the bacteria pathogenic? He explained that quite often the pathogen colonises a tissue once it is already on its way to die because of another pathogen. In that case, a heavy load of bacteria can be found, but does that imply that this was the causative agent of the disease? Or is it simply opportunistic? He went on to describe a lot of research that is being done in Canada to figure out whether that would be working best by vaccinating the sows, the piglets or both? Which adjuvant works best? And does vaccination not interfere with maternal antibodies? Multiple doses are best, he said, and the use of a strong adjuvant is recommended. Also, he focused on the role of animal’s inflammatory status on the S. suis outbreaks.
Mycotoxin masterclass
The second day was kicked off by a presentation by Prof. Dominiek Maes of Ghent University. He zoomed in on mycotoxins in animal nutrition and explained how to classify them. He also provided insight into the world of emerging mycotoxins – after all, as detection technologies improve, awareness is growing about mycotoxins hitherto unknown. Among the emerging mycotoxins he mentioned were e.g., enniatin, beauvericin and tenuazonic acid.
Emerging mycotoxins came back in the next presentation by Innovad’s Dr Arnau Vidal, global technical manager for toxins and stress. He explained about “biomonitoring,” a method of mycotoxin detection by doing blood tests, offered by Innovad and developed in cooperation with Ghent University. The method was introduced as having advantages over checking batches of feed, in which contaminations may be overlooked. Checking blood levels, however, would provide much more accurate outcomes as to which mycotoxin problems are prevalent – and therefore can help in adjusting the mitigation strategy, he said.
Zinc oxide, gut health and water
The last day started with a presentation of Dan Bussières, nutritionist of Groupe Cerès, Canada, who spoke about the Canadian road to reducing levels of zinc oxide in pig nutrition. He discussed various strategies that can be used and those that are already being applied in practice.
Then independent animal nutrition consultant Dr Jannes Doppenberg took to the stage. Achieving piglet health, without the use of antibiotics or zinc oxide, will have to go through a healthy microbiome, which starts with the sow, he said. Attention to sow nutrition should be complemented by a high quality pre-starter piglet feed, low in crude protein and energy, but with enough and well balanced fibres .
The event was closed off by a presentation by Dr Milena Sevastiyanova, global technical lead of Innovad. Her focus was on drinking water quality and how it influences the effectiveness of medication and could lead to digestive disorders and performance issues. She said that animals have several mechanisms to keep the acid-base homeostasis in the intestines and extreme and long-term water and feed acidification will lead to disturbances in enzyme functioning, digestion of the nutrients and acid-base balance.
Learning experience
The presentations formed a good basis of take-home messages, all of which were reinforced by the practical experience acquired in the necropsy room where all participants saw that sudden death in these pigs for which the presumptive diagnosis was S. suis was preceded by severe gastro-intestinal issues.
Undoubtedly the best example of that happened when one of the participating teams in the necropsy workshop stumbled onto an obvious cause of death in one of the deceased piglets: a stomach ulcer. What followed was excitement, as all 53 present gathered around the carcass to catch a glimpse. For the pig, the red patch in the stomach wall must have been a source of agony. For those present, however, it was a never-ending learning experience.
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