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Effect of Feed Quality and Composition on Pig Production, Physiological and Health Parameters

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2026) | Viewed by 7380

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Javier Álvarez-Rodríguez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Technological College, University of Zaragoza, Ctra. Cuarte s/n, 22071 Huesca, Spain
Interests: feeding strategies; animal product quality; environmental impact mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Swine is a domesticated omnivorous species widely used for multiple food production purposes, including fresh pork, cooked and cured products, and other products, including for its use as a model for biomedical research. However, the increase in the human population and a growing demand for pork is leading to a feed–food competition that threatens the pig production sector. Furthermore, pig production is also challenged by societal demands for animal welfare, food security, and healthier meat products, together with improved environmental impacts and climate change mitigation. We are pleased to invite you to submit original research articles and reviews on the evaluation of innovative feedstuffs and feed additives and/or feeding strategies that are tailored to the nutrient requirements of the pigs. More precisely, with regard to improving animal health, wellbeing, and pork quality, we are interested in works regardless of pig type (adult sows, boars, lactating and nursery piglets, and growing-finishing pigs), across a wide range of genetic types, and which are raised to meet very different target bodyweights worldwide.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Javier Álvarez-Rodríguez
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • swine
  • nutrient requirements
  • feedstuffs
  • feed additives
  • performance
  • health
  • environment
  • meat quality

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1378 KB  
Article
Grape Pomace and Ferulic Acid Improve Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and Gut Histomorphometry in Heat-Stressed Finishing Pigs
by María A. Ospina-Romero, Leslie S. Medrano-Vázquez, Araceli Pinelli-Saavedra, Miguel Ángel Barrera-Silva, Martín Valenzuela-Melendres, Miguel Ángel Martínez-Téllez, Reyna Fabiola Osuna-Chávez, María del Refugio Robles-Burgueño and Humberto González-Rios
Animals 2025, 15(16), 2382; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15162382 - 13 Aug 2025
Viewed by 952
Abstract
Given the restrictions on animal growth promoters, alternative plant-based additives—particularly those rich in phenolic compounds, such as agro-industrial by-products—have been explored. These additives help to mitigate heat stress, which negatively affects productivity by impacting intestinal health and antioxidant status. This study evaluated the [...] Read more.
Given the restrictions on animal growth promoters, alternative plant-based additives—particularly those rich in phenolic compounds, such as agro-industrial by-products—have been explored. These additives help to mitigate heat stress, which negatively affects productivity by impacting intestinal health and antioxidant status. This study evaluated the effects of individual and combined supplementation of ferulic acid (FA) and grape pomace (GP) on antioxidant enzyme activity, as well as intestinal histomorphometry, in finishing pigs under heat stress. Forty Yorkshire × Duroc pigs were randomly assigned to four treatments: control, 25 mg/kg FA, 2.5% GP, and MIX (FA + GP). FA supplementation increased intestinal villus height, while GP increased villus width in the duodenum and jejunum (p < 0.05). Antioxidant enzyme activity (SOD, CAT, and GPx) increased in pigs supplemented with GP (p < 0.05). These results suggest that GP and FA have potential as functional additives in monogastric diets, improving intestinal health and muscle antioxidant status and contributing to growth modulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Feed Quality and Composition on Pig Production, Physiological and Health Parameters)
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16 pages, 510 KB  
Article
Reducing Dietary Protein Levels with Amino Acid Supplementation in Duroc Sire Line Finishing Pigs: Growth Performances, Carcass and Meat Traits and Nitrogen Balance in Males and Females
by André Martinho de Almeida, María Angeles Latorre, Guillermo Ripoll, Marçal Verdú and Javier Alvarez-Rodriguez
Animals 2024, 14(24), 3572; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14243572 - 11 Dec 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2665
Abstract
Crude protein (CP) reduction and amino acid (AAs) supplementation is an interesting cost-reducing strategy for environmental compliance. The objective of this work is to study productive performances of heavy Duroc X (Landrace X Large white) male and female pigs during the finishing stage [...] Read more.
Crude protein (CP) reduction and amino acid (AAs) supplementation is an interesting cost-reducing strategy for environmental compliance. The objective of this work is to study productive performances of heavy Duroc X (Landrace X Large white) male and female pigs during the finishing stage under a 2% CP reduction with crystalline AA supplementation. A total of 60 entire male and 60 female pigs (means ± standard deviations: 109 ± 4.9 days of age; 67.9 ± 7.18 kg of body weight) were distributed in split-sex pens (6 pigs/pen) and fed ad libitum. Two isoenergetic diets were provided (145 and 125 g CP/kg with AA supplementation, control and low-CP) during the final 42 days of finishing period. Growth performance, carcass and meat traits were evaluated. The fixed effects of dietary treatment, sex and their interaction were considered and simple least squares models used. Males were 7.25% heavier (p < 0.001) and had 16% higher average daily gains (p < 0.0001) than females in both treatments with no differences in feed intake or feed conversion ratio (p > 0.05). Nitrogen efficiency was 35% higher in low-CP males. Little difference was found for most carcass and meat traits between treatments. Males had 7–8% higher loin subcutaneous fat thickness in both dietary treatments (p = 0.011). Males and females of the low-CP diet showed higher fat and saturated fat contents than controls (p = 0.020). A 20 g/kg CP reduction with AA supplementation is an efficient strategy during the finishing phase without productivity losses in heavy Duroc sire line genotypes of both sexes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Feed Quality and Composition on Pig Production, Physiological and Health Parameters)
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19 pages, 3702 KB  
Article
Role of Metabolomics and Metagenomics in the Replacement of the High-Concentrate Diet with a High-Fiber Diet for Growing Yushan Pigs
by Min Xie, Dan Fei, Yelan Guang, Fuguang Xue, Jun Xu and Yaomin Zhou
Animals 2024, 14(19), 2893; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14192893 - 8 Oct 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2334
Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the regulatory effects of a high-fiber content feed on the productive performance, meat quality, and fat acid composition. A total of 18 120-day-old Yushan pigs with similar initial body weight were randomly allotted into high-concentrate [...] Read more.
The objective of this study was to investigate the regulatory effects of a high-fiber content feed on the productive performance, meat quality, and fat acid composition. A total of 18 120-day-old Yushan pigs with similar initial body weight were randomly allotted into high-concentrate diet (high energy, HE) and high-fiber diet (low energy, LE) treatments for the determination of regulatory effects on productive performance, meat quality, and fatty acid content. Further, blood metabolomic, gut microbiota, and liver energy-related gene expression measurements were used to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Results showed that the LE treatment significantly increased ADFI while decreasing carcass weight, fat percentage, and IMF. Metabolomic results showed that the high-fiber treatment significantly down-regulated metabolites that participated in lipid metabolism such as cyclic ADP-ribose and hippuric acid, while up-regulated metabolites were mainly enriched in nitrogen metabolism such as DL-arginine and propionylcarnitine (p < 0.05). Microbial results showed relative abundances of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are significantly proliferated in the high-fiber feeding treatments (p < 0.05). Transcriptomic results showed that genes mainly enriched into the lipid metabolism are significantly up-regulated under the high-fiber dietary treatment (p < 0.05). Conclusion: higher dietary fiber significantly reduced dietary energy provision, effectively decreased the backfat and abdominal fat content of Yushan pigs through proliferating intestinal fiber-degradable bacteria, and up-regulating the hepatic lipolysis-related gene expression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Feed Quality and Composition on Pig Production, Physiological and Health Parameters)
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