A review published by Dr. José Francisco Pérez (professor of the UAB) and Dr. Miquel Nofrarías (researcher of the CReSA) shows information useful for decision-making about cereals to be chosen, level and composition of dietary fiber, and level of protein and aminoacids to be supplied in the piglets diet.

The incidence of digestive or respiratory pathologies contributes together with other causes (bad management or inadequate environmental conditions) to reduce the biological and economic performance of the pigs on farms. Deterioration is basically proved by a reduced feed intake, growth and feed efficiency. Differences in growth performance between good and bad resulting farms can achieve up to 70 and 200 g/day of up-to-20kg-weighted piglets and pigs between 20 to 100 kg, respectively.

The paper “Influence of nutrition on digestive pathology of piglets” (JF Pérez and M Nofrarías) reviews the most common pathologies of the piglets (during postweaning and nursery-fattening periods), as well as the contribution of the diet to digestive pathologies.

As a conclusion, it is remarked that postweaning period represents a challenge that compromise the piglet production and ulterior response in growing-fattening. The basic parameters to be understood are:

• piglets should consume enough amount of feed from the first day postweaning, in order to minimize the anorexia period,
• consumption should not provoke a microbial unbalance, but favouring the digestive function and progressive development of a stable microbiota along the digestive tract, and
• nutritional requirements of those essential and semi-essential compounds of the diet should be satisfied according to the performance expectations and the management and health conditions on the farm.

This review was presented in the XXIV Course of specialization FEDNA (Madrid, 23-24 October, 2008).