Effect of creep feeding on the incidence, duration and severity of post-weaning diarrhoea in pigs.

The effect of creep feeding on the response of pigs weaned at two or three weeks old to infection with an enteropathogenic strain of Escherichia coli (O149; K91[B], K88 a, c [L]) was studied in two separate experiments. Gastric intubation was adopted to regulate the intake of creep feed during the sucking period. Animals were given the enteropathogenic strain either before weaning or at weaning and the course and outcome of the infection followed bacteriologically and clinically. The response of the animals to the infection varied considerably in accord with recent reports of multiple phenotypes (to K88 +ve organisms) among pigs but consumption of creep feed before weaning did not significantly affect the prevalence, duration or severity of the diarrhoea induced experimentally by the organism. Hence reputed immunological responses mounted against dietary antigens did not predispose to or protect against this infection.