AGRIBUSINESS: NUTRITIONAL DIARRHEA IN PIGLETS.

AGRIBUSINESS: NUTRITIONAL DIARRHEA IN PIGLETS. Pathogenic diarrhea are quite common and are often confused with non-pathogenic secretory diarrhea. The non-pathogenic diarrhea are caused by wrong feed formulation and feed presentation.This can easily be avoided by correct feed formulation. AGRIBUSINESS: NUTRITIONAL DIARRHEA IN PIGLETS. Pathogenic diarrhea is the most common cause of depressed performance in recently weaned piglets. The nutritional diarrhea often lead to secondary complications through pathogenic agents such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella. These are identified by proper diagnostics, require veterinary intervention to cure symptoms and eliminate the source of offending microorganisms. Nutritional diarrhea usually follow pathogenic complications, thus a combination of nutritional and medical interventions is required. Nutritional diarrhea originate from three main areas in the feeding program: 1) palatability of feed; feed that fail to initiate vigorous intake immediately post-weaning will cause hunger, this will be followed by over-eating when pigs finally associate dry feed with nourishment. The short-term starvation created is capable of reducing the digestive and immune functions of the gastrointestinal system. When the pigs over-eat after a period of malnutrition, the digestion is incomplete, resulting in excess amounts of energy and protein available for proliferation of opportunistic pathogenic microorganism such as Escherichia coli or Salmonella. 2) feed quality; feed of low quality produced using second class ingredients.This will not only discourage the development of an early appetite, but their intrinsic low digestibility result in more undigested material becoming available for bacterial proliferation in the lower gastrointestinal tract. This is why a high quality diet is essential for a successful weaning. 3)feed stuff component such as soybean meal contain anti-nutritional factors that may cause gastrointestinal inflammation. This if combined with low-feed intake and excess undigested feed will result in nutritional diarrhea.