A nutritional approach for the prevention of Post Weaning Syndrome in piglets

In this article the disturbing steps in the process leading to the Post Weaning Syndrome (PWS) in piglets and its prevention is discussed from a nutritional point of view. The proposed sequence of disturbing steps in the gut is the following: when weaning occurs at three or four weeks of age, gut development to digest a 'vegetable' diet is immature and the normal gut morphology is disturbed by stress, infection, and a low feed intake. The impaired absorption and digestion increases the amount of undigested substrate and may cause explosive growth of bacteria. The colonization resistance is disturbed and for example Escherichia coli can proliferate. Practical measures regarding feeding strategy and feed composition to counteract these disturbing steps in this process leading towards PWS are discussed.