Researchers Seeking More Portly Porkers : Farming: An efficient, low-cost method to improve the digestive process and increase the weight gain from each pound of feed would lower farm costs.

Pigs may not need encouragement to belly up to the feed trough, but scientists are looking for ways to make swine more efficient eaters.

Researchers are trying to determine if bacteria found in the digestive tracts of American buffalo can be implanted in pigs and help farmers save money fattening their hogs for market.

“We know what it does in the test tube. We don’t know yet what happens in the animal,” said Vincent Varel, a research microbiologist for the government’s Agricultural Research Service.

A lot could be riding on the outcome of the tests at the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Neb.

Feed represents about half of a farmer’s production costs. An efficient, low-cost method to improve the digestive process and increase the weight gain from each pound of feed would lower farm costs and increase the chance of operating profitably.

The studies are of special interest in Iowa, which accounts for one out of every four hogs raised for market in the United States.

The livestock feed industry also is interested, and Varel said four feed companies already have contacted him to find out how the studies are progressing.

Varel said that the research is preliminary and that even if successful, it would be at least five years before farmers could apply the results to their hogs.

The studies are focusing on a bacterium known as Clostridium longisporum , found in bison. When fed or implanted in pigs, the bacterium stimulates production of a new, yet-to-be-named microorganism, which previously has not been found in pigs.

“The new organism better degrades fiber in pigs fed corn and soybeans. Metabolic studies will be done to determine how much energy the pig derives from this organism. If the fiber-degrading activity in pigs is increased, producers may be able to switch to less expensive feeds, such as feed grains from ethanol production,” the Agricultural Research Service says in a synopsis of its studies.

Varel said researchers suspected such an organism existed in bison because those beasts do a better job digesting a poor-quality diet than domestic cows do.

In the test tube, researchers found that the organism degrades cellulose fiber 15% better than other organisms and decided to “let’s try it in the pig and see what happens there,” Varel said in a telephone interview.

So far, no side effects have been found, he said.

The initial round of tests has determined that the microorganism can be established in pigs, and a new test will see if it can be done consistently.

The next step is to compare the metabolism of pigs that have the organism with pigs that do not. Metabolism is the process of breaking down food into energy and waste matter.

To find out, researchers will analyze what goes into the pig’s mouth and what comes out the other end.

“The object is to see if this organism is having an effect on growth,” he said. “Within the next year, we will have a good idea if we can consistently establish it and whether it has an effect on the animals or not.”

Eventually, scientists will want to determine if the organism helps pigs add lean tissue or fat. Varel also said researchers will want to know if the organism makes pigs eat less because they make better use of what they are fed.