THE EFFECTS OF DIARRHEA ON FOOD-INTAKE IN PIGLETS WEANED ON THE DAY OF BIRTH

Large White x Landrace piglets (23 animals) weaned on the first day af ter birth were reared individually in a thermoneutral environment on a liquid diet having a macronutrient content similar to that of sow's m ilk. They were offered the diet from sucking bottles nine times a day at 2-h intervals. According to the appearance of the faeces the animal s were divided into two groups: diarrhoeic piglets and clinically heal thy animals. Their consumption of the diet, energy (GE) and macronutri ents was assessed from the 3rd to the 10th day after birth; a total of 514 and 441 measurements were made in diarrhoeic piglets and healthy controls, respectively. With advancing age the intake of the diet by a nimals of the two groups changed in the same way as we described in pr evious studies. In diarrhoeic piglets, however, both the actual and th e relative food intake, expressed in relation to live body mass and me tabolic mass, was lower on days 3, 5 and 6 than in the healthy control s. In the period of the ealier described transient decrease in food co nsumption this difference disappeared and was observed again in piglet s 9 (actual diet intake) and 10 (both actual and relative diet intake) days of age. Impairment of their enteral functions manifested by decr eased ingestion of the liquid diet, GE, N substances and lipids was al so observed after ontogenic shift of regulatory mechanisms of food int ake control to a higher integrative level.