The "must have" for piglet farming you must know - calcium formate! Reducing diarrhea is easy

Piglet diarrhea is a difficult point in pig breeding management. Due to the great harm of piglet diarrhea and the complicated causes of diarrhea, it has been difficult to completely overcome it. Under the environment of complete prohibition of antibiotics in feed, most feed companies choose to use acidifiers  to reduce the acidity, thereby reducing the diarrhea rate of piglets. Next, let us have a deeper understanding of the causes of piglet diarrhea and the principle of acidifiers improving piglet diarrhea.

1. Physiological characteristics of piglets and causes of diarrhea

1. Low immunity and weak disease resistance. Piglets start to produce immune antibodies after 10 days of age, and mature after 4 to 5 weeks. Weaning at 21 days of age will reduce the circulating antibody level of piglets, inhibit cellular immunity, and cause diarrhea due to weak disease resistance.

2. Intestinal microecological imbalance. Lactobacillus was the dominant flora in suckling piglets, and the pH was maintained at a low level. However, after weaning, due to insufficient secretion of gastric acid and digestive enzymes and intestinal mucosal damage in piglets, harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Streptococcus, Enterobacter, etc. multiply in large numbers, and even become dominant bacteria, resulting in intestinal micro-ecosystem imbalance and diarrhea in piglets .

3. Poor thermoregulation ability. Weaned piglets have sparse coat, less subcutaneous fat, underdeveloped cerebral cortex, and poor ability to regulate various systems, resulting in unsound body temperature regulation mechanism of piglets, and are susceptible to cold and heat stress, causing diarrhea.

2. Why can adding calcium formate  effectively improve diarrhea in piglets?

1. The gastrointestinal tract of piglets needs to maintain a low pH environment. Calcium formate can reduce the pH value of the gastrointestinal tract of piglets, which is beneficial to activate pepsinogen, make up for the lack of digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid secretion in the piglet stomach, and improve the content of feed nutrients. digestibility.

2. The free formic acid released after calcium formate enters piglets can prevent the growth and reproduction of Escherichia coli and other pathogenic bacteria, and at the same time promote the growth of some beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus. Beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus can cover the intestinal mucosa to protect it from the invasion of toxins produced by Escherichia coli, thereby effectively reducing the occurrence of diarrhea associated with bacterial infections.

3. Formic acid, as an organic acid, can act as a chelating agent in the digestion process and can promote the absorption of minerals in the intestine (Huang Jianhua, 2005).

3. Calcium formate research data:

Adding 1%~1.5% calcium formate to piglet diet can significantly improve the performance of weaned piglets. Zheng Jianhua (1994) added 1.5% calcium formate to the diet of 28-day-old weaned piglets and fed them for 25 days. The daily gain of piglets increased by 7.3%, the feed conversion rate increased by 2.53%, and the protein and energy utilization rates increased by 10.3% respectively. And 9.8%, piglet diarrhea was significantly reduced . Wu Tianxing (2002) added 1% calcium formate to the rations of three-way hybrid weaned piglets, the daily gain increased by 3%, the feed conversion rate increased by 9%, and the diarrhea rate of piglets decreased by 45.7%.

4. Acidifiers that can supplement calcium

Piglets have a large demand for calcium during the growth stage, and stone powder is often added to the feed to supplement calcium for piglets. However, the addition of stone powder will increase the acidity of the feed system, which will cause serious damage to piglets with incomplete intestinal function. Large digestive burden, causing a series of problems such as diarrhea in piglets. Calcium formate, as an acidifier capable of supplementing calcium, contains 30.5% organic calcium and has a high absorption conversion rate. It can not only ensure the intestinal health of piglets, but also meet the calcium requirements for growth of piglets.