Researchers at University College in Dublin, Ireland say that feeding seaweed, a popular ingredient in ancient Chinese medicine, to sows can improve the health of their offspring and reduce the use of antimicrobials, says the Aberdeen (Scotland) Press and Journal. Professor John O’Doherty said seaweed contains many properties beneficial to animal health, including vitamins, minerals and fatty acids, but a type of sugar in seaweed, laminarin, was the most promising component.
Over the past decade, said the newspaper, O’Doherty and his team found that seaweed extracts that contain laminarin improved the gut structure of sows, which the mothers passed on to their piglets. The piglets had a lower risk of scours – diarrhea – while being weaned.
Seaweed extracts could be available to British farmers within a year, O’Doherty told the Press and Journal. “It will be one of the alternatives [to antibiotics] along with better management, better nutrition, and more carefully monitored diets.”