title: Digestive physiology of the pig symposium: potential applications of knowledge of gut chemosensing in pig production.
abstract: Pig production is a commodity business, which makes it a cost-driven business. Pig producers and their advisors are appropriately reluctant to adopt technologies without confidence that improved production will more than pay for the cost of the technology. Physiological effects of technologies targeting gut sensory pathways must translate to demonstrably improved health and/or productive performance if they are to be adopted. The types and degrees of stressors experienced by pigs in commercial production vary widely and often differ from those in research herds, and those variations influence their productive responses to nutritional and health technologies. Pigs are most vulnerable to disease soon after weaning, and the diets fed to pigs at that time are more expensive and offered in much smaller amounts than those fed later in life. Those factors make it easier to justify expensive dietary technologies for young pigs than for older ones. New developments in gut chemosensing appear important, but their practical application is not yet clear. We suggest investigation of the potential to connect chemical detection by the gut to pig productivity and/or efficiency through these mechanisms: 1) trophic effects on the intestines, which lead to improved enteric health or enhanced nutrient digestion and absorption, 2) enhanced barrier function in the intestinal mucosa, 3) increased feed intake, 4) enhanced insulin secretion and sensitivity, which may be especially useful in lactating sows to improve subsequent reproduction, and 5) other signals triggered by products of enteric fermentation, possibly short-chain fatty acids, that may influence gut integrity, feed intake, and reproductive function. Each of these mechanisms relates to a practical issue in pig production. Practical application would likely be achieved through dietary changes, but separate management factors, drugs, or other interventions may also be developed.
authors: Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 60801, USA.
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: I R
authors: IR
authors: Ipharraguerre
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Pettigrew
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004063:Digestion; D004435:Eating; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013552:Swine / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled