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ZINCLESS

A BBSRC-funded project​​​

Welcome to the ZINCLESS research project

We aim to advance knowledge and drive collaboration to explore how zinc oxide removal from pig diet affects gut health, antimicrobial resistance, and the microbiome.

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The support of all participating producers in this study is gratefully acknowledged, alongside the hard work and dedication of the sampling teams.

Piglets sleeping

Image credit: SRUC

Image credit: SRUC

Zinc oxide withdrawal

Young pigs may face health problems when they are weaned, including post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD). This condition causes illness, distress and weight loss, with severe cases even leading to death. PWD is mainly caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, but other factors including secondary infections and the stress of weaning make piglets more susceptible. PWD is a major animal health and welfare concern and prevention and control of this condition is a priority for producers.

 

Before June 2024, farmers had the option of adding prophylactic levels of zinc oxide (ZnO) to weaner piglet feed to help prevent PWD. While using ZnO supported gut health and lowered the risk of disease, it also had some disadvantages. Of particular concern, ZnO is thought to encourage bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics, contributing to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). There are also concerns that spreading pig manure to land risks contamination of soils over time with zinc, a heavy metal.​

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Grower pellets

Image credit: SRUC

Due to the concerns linking ZnO with AMR and environmental pollution, the European Medicines Agency ruled in 2017 that the risks of pharmacological ZnO supplementation in the pig industry outweighed the benefits and banned supplementation above 150 ppm in weaner diet in the EU from mid-2022, with UK regulatory withdrawal implemented from June 2024.

Project rationale and aims
Pigs at play on straw

Image credit: SRUC

​The aim of our project is to examine the consequences of the UK regulatory withdrawal of ZnO from weaner diet on PWD, antimicrobial resistance and the gut microbiome in weaning pigs.

 

We are a multi-disciplinary research team from across the UK,  working closely with participating industry, producers, and clinicians. ZINCLESS* began in March 2024 and is very timely, with the project running for the first three years following regulatory withdrawal of ZnO in the UK.

 

We are delivering this research through four inter-connected work packages, aligned to our four project aims:​

  1. Evaluate the impact of ZnO removal from weaner pig diet on PWD, pathogens and AMR over the first 12 months following withdrawal.

  2. Identify potentially beneficial bacteria by exploring differences in the gut flora of weaner pigs in the presence and absence of ZnO.

  3. Understand how the elimination of ZnO may affect ETEC strain diversity and AMR in gut bacteria through the use of genome sequencing technology.

  4. Engage in two-way knowledge exchange with producers, their veterinarians, and industry stakeholders.

 

Our findings will contribute to an improved understanding of the consequences of withdrawing ZnO, and help inform the development of alternatives to improve gut health. Read about the impacts of our project.

Project overview
Infographic depicting the study's four work packages and how they interact. The first work package is a longitudinal field study whereby approximately 3,000 pre- and post-withdrawal samples are taken from the pig herd participant and analysed using shotgun sequencing, qPCR, rotavirus, and ETEC isolation. Work page 2 concentrates around the beneficial microbiome and analyses a ZnO positive group and a ZnO negative group via genomics and spectrometry, culturomics and beneficial bacterial isolate phenotyping, and correlation analysis. The ETEC positive samples from work page 1 and work package 2 feed into work package 3, which takes these samples and carries of ETEC and AMR genomic analyses via ETEC isolation, whole genome sequencing, and looking at the antimicrobial resistance genes and the mobile genetic elements. The data from work package 1, 2, and 3 will be integrated to produce a ZINCLESS digital microbiome resource that work package 4 that aims to engage stakeholders.

*BBSRC project title: Intended and Unintended Consequences of the ZnO Ban From Pig Diets on Antimicrobial Resistance, Post Weaning Diarrhoea, and the Microbiome​​

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