1. Physiological characteristics of piglets and causes of diarrhea

1. Low immunity and weak disease resistance. Piglets begin to produce immune antibodies after 10 days of age, and mature after 4~5 weeks, weaning at the age of 21 days will reduce the level of circulating antibodies in piglets, inhibit cellular immunity, and weak disease resistance is easy to cause diarrhea.

2. Imbalance of intestinal microecology. Suckling piglets were dominated by lactobacillus, and P H was maintained at a low level. After weaning, due to insufficient gastric acid, digestive enzyme secretion and intestinal mucosal damage in piglets, harmful bacteria such as intestinal Escherichia coli, streptococcus, and Enterobacteriaceae multiply in large quantities, and even become dominant bacteria, resulting in intestinal microecosystem dysbiosis and diarrhea in piglets.

3. Poor body temperature regulation. Weaned piglets have sparse coats, less subcutaneous fat, imperfect cerebral cortex, and poor regulation ability of various systems, resulting in imperfect body temperature regulation mechanism of piglets, and susceptible to the influence of cold and heat stress, causing diarrhea.

2. Why can calcium formate be added to effectively improve diarrhea in piglets?

1. The gastrointestinal tract of piglets needs to maintain a low pH environment, and calcium formate can reduce the P H value of the gastrointestinal tract of piglets, which is conducive to activating pepsinogen, making up for the lack of digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid secretion in the stomach of piglets, and improving the digestibility of feed nutrients.

2. The free formic acid released after calcium formate enters the piglet can prevent the growth and reproduction of Escherichia coli and other pathogenic bacteria, and promote the growth of some beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus. Beneficial bacteria such as lactobacilli can coat the intestinal mucosa and prevent it from the invasion of toxins produced by Escherichia coli, thereby effectively reducing the occurrence of diarrhea associated with bacterial infection.

3. As an organic acid, formic acid can play a role as a chelating agent in the digestion process, which can promote the absorption of minerals in the intestine (Huang Jianhua, 2005).

3. Calcium formate research data:

Adding 1%~1.5% calcium formate to the piglet diet can significantly improve the production performance of weaned piglets. Zheng Jianhua (1994) After adding 1.5% calcium formate to the diet of 28-day-old weaned piglets for 25 days, the daily weight gain of piglets increased by 7.3%, the feed conversion rate increased by 2.53%, the protein and energy utilization efficiency increased by 10.3% and 9.8%, respectively, and the diarrhea of piglets was significantly reduced. Wu Tianxing (2002) Supplementation of 1% calcium formate to the diet of ternary crossbred weaned piglets increased daily weight gain by 3%, feed conversion by 9%, and diarrhea rate of piglets by 45.7%.

Fourth, acidifiers that can supplement calcium

Piglets have a large demand for calcium in the growth stage, and stone powder is often added to the feed for calcium supplementation in piglets, but because the addition of stone powder will cause the acidity of the feed to increase, it will cause a great digestive burden for piglets with incomplete intestinal function development, causing a series of problems such as diarrhea in piglets. Calcium formate, as an acidifier that can supplement calcium, contains 30.4% organic calcium, with high absorption and conversion rate, which can ensure the intestinal health of piglets while meeting the calcium needs of piglets for growth.