Gestational and early-life dietary impacts on performance, welfare and gut health

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Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) face a range of environmental challenges throughout their life course, and there is considerable variability between pigs in how well they cope with these challenges. The microbiome and the subsequent growth and development of offspring are shaped by the conditions experienced during pregnancy, the location and mode of delivery and the diet of an individual. Given that sows may be located either indoors or outdoors with different farrowing conditions and piglet feeding systems, a piglet's microbiome and development could be heavily influenced by the environment in which it is born, and could affect an individual's ability to cope with environmental challenges, ultimately compromising performance and health. The gut microbiome and its associations with pre- and neo-natal diet and subsequent impacts on performance, health and cognitive development is an area of emerging and increasing interest to both academics and the pig and animal nutrition sectors with substantial potential real-world impact. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the impacts of different dietary constituents in the pre-and neo-natal stages of development, and early life environment on cognitive development, welfare and performance, using pigs as a model system.