Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40302010›Full record

ArticlePorcine health management2025

The natural diet composition of young piglets suggests an overlook of fibre and food structure in farmed suckling piglets.

Renjie Yao, Hubèrt M J van Hees, An Cools, Sebastián A Ballari, Dominiek Maes, Geert P J Janssens

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Porcine health management, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Renjie YaoDepartment of Veterinary and Biosciences, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium. Renjie.yao@UGent.be.
Hubèrt M J van HeesDepartment of Veterinary and Biosciences, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
An CoolsDepartment of Veterinary and Biosciences, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Sebastián A BallariConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) CENAC (Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, APN) AR, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina.
Dominiek MaesDepartment of Internal Medicine, Reproduction and Population Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
Geert P J JanssensDepartment of Veterinary and Biosciences, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe often disappointing intake of creep feed by suckling piglets coincides with a limited ability to cope with challenges such as weaning diarrhoea. Investigating the dietary nutrient profile of piglets (Sus scrofa) in the wild may help to improve nutrition for farmed piglets. This study was conducted to analyse the stomach content of feral piglets and their farmed counterparts, and to compare them with the composition of commercial creep feeds. Forty feral piglets (4.6 ± 1.4 kg) living in a wild herd were tracked and legally hunted in the Bahía Samborombón (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Their gastric contents were collected for analysing macronutrients. Twenty-eight farmed suckling piglets of similar ages were sourced from a Dutch research farm, and their stomach contents were collected and pooled into fourteen samples with the same procedure for comparison. Additionally, the composition data of twenty-five commercial feeds was also collected.

resultsA higher dry matter content was observed in the farmed piglets' stomachs (233 vs. 148 g/kg, P < 0.05). The gastric crude protein concentration was similar between both groups but the crude fat concentration was higher in the stomach of farmed animals (525 vs. 238 g/kg DM, P < 0.05), while feral piglets consumed more ash and fibre (P < 0.05). A similar concentration of non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC) on metabolizable energy basis was observed by calculation through the NRC's guideline (P > 0.05). Within the fibre content, significantly greater concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) were observed in the stomach of feral piglets than in those of farmed piglets (282 vs. 36 g/kg, 158 vs. 9 g/kg DM, 53 vs. 3 g/kg DM, respectively, P < 0.05). Similar protein concentrations were observed between the gastric content of feral piglets and creep feed, while significantly higher crude ash and crude fat concentrations were found in feral piglets' consumption (P < 0.05).

conclusionIn conclusion, piglets in natural conditions consume much more fibre-from coarse plant material-compared to farmed piglets receiving creep feed. Although technical performance is distinctly different between nature and farm, it raises the question whether suckling piglets under farming conditions would benefit from a more fibrous and coarser creep feed.

Indexed as

Creep feedFeral pigletsInsoluble fibreSuckling pigletsWild

Identifiers

PMID40302010
PMCPMC12042565

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.