Microbiological survey of liquid feed for finisher pigs on eight commercial pig farms

摘要

The microbial quality of liquid feed varies from farm to farm. A common finding across farms is spontaneous fermentation within liquid feed. This may help to explain the variability in growth performance seen in the literature relating to liquid feeding of finisher pigs.Feed accounts for ~70% of pig production costs (Teagasc, 2017). Optimising the microbial quality of liquid feed to encourage feed intake and decrease wastage is vital to achieve optimal growth and feed efficiency. By mixing feed and water, naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts proliferate which results in a reduced pH due to the production of lactic and acetic acids (Canibe and Jensen, 2012). The aim of this experiment was to investigate the microbial quality of liquid feed for finisher pigs sampled from commercial pig units. The hypothesis was that feed microbial quality will vary between farms and that within farm spontaneous fermentation will occur during feed preparation and feeding.