Kinetio®: Towards a better understanding of feed ingredients

Our research and development team is dedicated to both understanding swine digestion and continuously improving our nutritional knowledge. Using data collected from research and commercial trials conducted at our validation research facilities in Canada, as well as at the Trouw Nutrition Swine Research Center in the Netherlands, we have developed a new strategy to formulate swine feed using nutrient kinetics, or Kinetio®, technology.

Kinetio technology accounts for the rate at which nutrients are digested and whether these  reactions happen slowly or rapidly. The raw materials in feed supply energy and nutrients like protein, amino acids, fat, starch, and fiber. Digestion is a cascade of the degradation reactions of feedstuffs into nutrients that can be then absorbed by the animal and used in their metabolism. A nutrient’s kinetics relates to the rate of this reaction – fast, slow, or nondigestible. Depending on the stage of production, pigs’ needs, and producers’ goals, nutritionists can formulate precise diets to support certain objectives.

Trouw Nutrition continues to develop a nutrient kinetics database; we currently have kinetic values for the protein and fiber of approximately 300 feed ingredients (see Figure 1 for an example). This technology is helping us to have a better understanding of local i n g red i e n t s and maximize the return to our customers. Kinetio is opening the door to use alternative ingredients and valorize their usage in the feed. Overall, with our science-based expertise and knowledge of digestion kinetics, we are able to optimize animal performance using Kinetio technology.

After 5 years of using Kinetio in our nursery programs, and many additional development projects, we are now expanding across all our swine segments by launching Kinetio in grower-finisher pigs and sows. Lactating sows have different Kinetio needs compared to piglets. In sows, the objective is to maximize milk production without using too much of the maternal protein reserves. After conducting multiple trials and validations, we have confirmed that having a specific digestibility ratio on slow protein digestibility in the lactation diet reduces body weight loss and improves litter gain (Table 1), in agreement with previous trials conducted at our research facilities in the Netherlands and in Quebec.

For grower-finisher pigs, Kinetio is an excellent tool to maximize the use of opportunity ingredients while maintaining high performance. Through multiple trials in our validation research facilities, we have been able to understand the required ratio of protein and fiber digestibility to support the full performance potential of pigs. This has allowed us to increase our flexibility and ability to adapt to the reality of our producers in each region.

Table 1:

Sow and piglet performance according to inclusion level of slow protein in the lactation feed. Results confirm that formulating with higher levels of slow protein improves milk output (litter gain) and reduces sow weight loss. This trial was run at one of our validation research facilities in Quebec to investigate the effects of varying inclusion levels of slow protein.

In summary, Kinetio is a new way of formulating swine feed that takes our understanding of ingredients to the next level, opening doors to new opportunities. Our research shows that using this technology in sows provides an advantage in terms of maximizing milk production, whereas using this technology is grower-finisher pigs offers flexibility in feed formulation.

Figure 1:

Protein and fiber kinetics for three alternative feed ingredients in swine feed.