Heat stress in swine: a Brazilian perspective

Impact and management of heat stress in swine production:

A Brazilian perspective

Interview with Bruno A. N. Silva, Ph.D., Institute of Agricultural Sciences ICA, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Bruno Silva is a professor and researcher in swine nutrition and production and environmental adaptation at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and a specialist in the field of nutritional requirements and environmental adaptation of pigs in tropical regions. At Lallemand’s 9th International LEVUCELL SB technical meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Oct. 25, 2017, he gave a lecture about nutritional solutions to improve the performance of highly prolific sows in a tropical humid climate.

Questions:

• What are the current challenges of Brazilian swine production?
• What is the cost/impact of heat stress on Brazilian swine production?
• What is the impact of genetics on sows’ heat sensitivity?
• How do you rank the importance and feasibility of genetics, environmental measures, and nutrition, to mitigate the impact of heat stress?
• You conducted a trial at Brazil University with live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii CNCM I-1079, can you tell us about this?
• Was improved digestibility the main driver?
• Which nutritional strategy would you recommend?

To get Dr. B. Silva’s answers, download the pdf!