In the modern swine industry, inflammation and pain in sows after farrowing are a crucial animal welfare concern. There is a pressing need to explore practical approaches that involve providing both high-fibre diets and anti-inflammatory agents and having beneficial interactions with bacteriome members.

Larch sawdust, a by-product of the wood industry, was collected from different areas of the Alpine regions. All samples were subjected to selective extraction processes to evaluate the presence of compounds with promising biological activities: dihydrokaempferol and taxifolin known for their antioxidant activity, larixol and larixyl acetate, known for their antibacterial activity. From the results, the larch sample with the higher quantity of the targeted bioactive compounds was selected as functional fibre to the sow's diet to add value to this biomass. We performed a feeding trial in sows to document the effects of using larch sawdust as functional fibre.

Converting waste biomass fiber into value-added sustainable products to improve animal health and in future to be also considered as a food supplement.