The American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI) announced the availability of four documents summarizing recent research on the use of permeate in pig feed. Elmhurst, Ill.-based ADPI supported this research through its Permeate Task Force.

The objectives of the research studies were to evaluate lactose level impacts on the intestinal health of the piglets, as well as nursery pig performance at varying body weights and weaning ages. A total of 5,112 pigs were evaluated in a series of studies focused on the benefits of adding whey permeate in the diets of piglets, ADPI said.

The results not only showed that whey permeate can significantly improve the growth performance of nursery pigs, but also provided recommended ranges of inclusion levels for optimum feed efficiency. The studies also elicited results of positive changes to gut health by inclusion of whey permeate in the diets of nursery pigs, ADPI said. Finally, the results suggest that increased whey permeate in the diets of pig weaned at 21 and 25 days can improve growth performance at the identified inclusion levels suggested.

Collectively, the results provided by these studies are informative and applicable to producers, ADPI said, and highlight the opportunities of feeding whey permeate to nursery pigs for both growth performance and gut health benefits. ADPI will host a webinar in mid-January 2022 to further discuss the results of this research in more detail.

For more information, contact Dan Meyer, technical director, at dmeyer@adpi.org.