Interpretive Summary: Precision feeding of lactating sows: implementation and evaluation of a decision support system in farm conditions

By: Raphaël Gauthier, Christine Largouët, Dan Bussières, Jean-Philippe Martineau, Jean-Yves Dourmad

In lactating sows, nutrient requirements among individual animals vary greatly. With a single diet, lactating sows are likely to be either underfed, which results in body reserve mobilization, or overfed, which results in nutrient excretion. Precision feeding (PF) is a new feeding strategy that aims to provide the right amount of nutrients at the right time for each animal. In this study, we focus on the implementation and the evaluation of a decision support system (DSS) that delivers daily tailored diets to lactating sows. Two experimental treatments were compared: a precision feeding strategy based on the DSS (PRE treatment; 239 sows), and a conventional feeding strategy (STDtreatment; 240 sows). Digestible lysine intake and digestible phosphorus intake were reduced by 23% and 14% in PRE sows, respectively, and feed cost by 12%, compared to STD sows. Excretion of nitrogen and phosphorus also decreased for PRE sows by 28% and 42%, respectively. Sow body weight loss was low, although slightly higher in PRE sows, which might be due to insufficient amino acid supply in some sows. PF appears to be a very promising strategy for matching nutrient supply to the specific nutrient requirements of lactating sows.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.