243 Nutritional Intervention for Reduced Nitrogen Excretion and Better Intestinal Health

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Abstract Increased awareness on public welfare has augmented the demand for more sustainable swine production. Nutritional interventions have been done to improve the dietary nitrogen utilization in order to reduce nitrogen excretion and enhance the intestinal health of pigs. Highly digestible protein supplements have been used as a strategy to enhance intestinal health and nitrogen utilization. Taking advantage of crystalline amino acids, low CP formulation with adequate amino acid supplementation has been used to reduce feed cost and improve intestinal health by decreasing protein fermentation. It has been estimated that reducing 1% protein in the diet reduces 9% nitrogen excretion and, consequently, environmental pollution. Feeding functional feed additives is another strategy to enhance intestinal health and nutrient digestion. Selected feed enzymes can reduce nitrogen excretion and improve intestinal health by directly increasing the digestibility of protein or by reducing antinutritional compounds such as allergenic proteins, phytate, and NSP that can impair protein digestion. Selected organic acids have antimicrobial properties and used in animal feeds to modulate intestinal microbiota, to enhance intestinal epithelial barrier function, and to improve protein digestibility. Selected prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics can reduce nitrogen excretion by changing the intestinal environment, enhancing the intestinal morphology, immune status, and the microbiota composition. Enhanced intestinal health with increased beneficial microbiota would increase the efficiency of nitrogen utilization consequently reducing nitrogen excretion. In summary, different nutritional strategies can be adopted to improve growth efficiency related to enhanced intestinal health and nutrient utilization, consequently reducing nitrogen excretion. Finally, improved feed efficiency and reduced nutrient waste would assure sustainable swine production, economic incentives to producers, and public welfare.