Zinc oxide has been widely used for the prevention of post-weaning diarrhea in Europe. Post-weaning diarrhea is one of the most common pathologies in pig farms, associated with an immune weakening of piglets after weaning, which favors bacterial overgrowth in the intestine and the consequent appearance of diarrhea.

Several factors such as early weaning, high breeding density and the grouping of piglets from different sows, favor the appearance of post-weaning diarrhea.

Post-weaning diarrhea, although it does not cause severe mortality, does have an important effect on the growth of piglets and feed digestion during this first phase of breeding.

Until now, the zinc oxide has been used as a preventive in feed for post-weaning diarrhea, however, from June of this year (2022), the use of this chemical compound, as a treatment, will be banned in Europe.

This ban by the European authorities is due to the fact that the continued use of zinc oxide is associated with an increase in antimicrobial resistance. On the other hand, zinc oxide is a compound with a non-volatile and non-degradable nature, which favors its accumulation in the environment, causing a serious environmental pollution problem.

Faced with this prohibition, farmers require natural solutions capable of ensuring the intestinal development of piglets and avoiding the appearance of diarrhea in the post-weaning.

Since the end of 2020 and during the past year 2021, numerous studies conducted in Europe have shown the effectiveness of intestinal conditioner pronutrients for the prevention of post-weaning diarrhea.

Intestinal conditioning pronutrients are active molecules of botanical origin that act at the metagenetic level, increasing the renewal rate of enterocytes and reinforcing the tight junctions between them, ensuring the integrity and development of the intestinal epithelium.

In the studies carried out in Europe (Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland…) it has been shown that, the use of intestinal conditioner pronutrients in the diet after weaning, allows to effectively prevent the appearance of post-weaning diarrhea, and at the same time they improve animal´s growing rate by up to 18.3%, which means 5.43 kg more per piglet, and improve the feed conversion rate (FCR) by 4%.

Intestinal conditioner pronutrients are natural molecules that do not generate resistances and do not leave residues in animals.

Intestinal conditioner pronutrients are marketed under the name Alquernat Nebsui of Biovet S.A.