Reducing the protein content in diets for weaner pigs to control post-weaning diarrhoea: physiological and metabolic responses of the gastrointestinal tract

A series of experiments was conducted with weaner pigs to examine the effects of dietary protein content, duration of feeding diets after weaning and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) infection on physiological and metabolic responses of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The general hypotheses tested in this thesis were that feeding a lower protein diet supplemented with essential amino acids (AA) to maintain an ideal dietary AA pattern would: (i) reduce indices of protein fermentation in the GIT and consequently reduce the incidence of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD), and (ii) not hinder performance responses compared with pigs fed a commercial standard diet higher in protein content