PSIII-19 Effect of Sensory Attractants Before and After Weaning on Nursery Pig Performance

Two experiments were conducted using 48 litters and 711 nursery pigs to determine the effect of a powder sensory attractant (Exp. 1; Baby Pig Restart APF; TechMix Global; Stewart, MN) or enrichment cube (Exp. 2; supersized pellets resembling cattle cubes) pre- and post-weaning on feed intake and growth. Treatments were arranged in a 2x2x2 factorial with main effects of pre-weaning treatment (without/with attractant), post-weaning treatment (without/with attractant), and BW category (light/heavy). Pre-weaning treatments were assigned in a RCBD and post-weaning treatments were assigned in a CRD. Litters receiving attractant pre-weaning were provided 90 g/d of powder, divided into 2 feedings, in the pan of rotary creep feeders (Exp. 1) or 100 g of cubes once daily on the floor of farrowing stalls (Exp. 2) for 4-d prior to weaning. After weaning, pens of pigs that received attractant were offered 45 g/d of powder, divided into 2 feedings/d for 2-d (Exp. 1), or 100 g of cubes once daily (Exp. 2) top-dressed on feed in the feeder pan for 3-d post-weaning. In both experiments, pre- and post-weaning attractant had limited effects on the growth performance of pigs after weaning. In Exp. 1, the percentage of pigs that lost weight 3-d post-weaning decreased by approximately 20 percentage points when pigs were provided powder both pre- and post-weaning compared with the other 3 treatment combinations (P = 0.015). No differences were observed for BW category. In Exp. 2, the percentage of pigs that lost weight 7-d post-weaning decreased by 11.7 percentage points when pigs were offered cubes compared with no cubes (P = 0.002). On d 3, more heavyweight pigs lost weight (P = 0.007) than lightweight pigs; however, this effect was diminished by d 7. In summary, sensory attractants reduced the percentage of pigs that lost weight immediately after weaning which may be due to encouraged activity around the feeder.