0
Supplying high-fiber diets during pregnancy has been shown to improve the welfare of sows and increase feed intake over the subsequent lactation period. Recently, it has been concluded that provision of dietary fibers during gestation generally has a beneficial effect on the behaviour and welfare of sows which are restricted-fed. Moreover, sows fed with a high-fiber diet during gestation can manage their own feed transition, choosing the lactation diet spontaneously in the week preceding parturition. This indicates that a high-fiber gestation diet promotes early intake of the lactation diet. For that aim, three types of dietary fiber were fed to sows during gestation and lactation stages to monitor their physiological and metabolic adaptations during the pre-partum period and to determine how these effects may influence the lactation period and sow performance. Soon after breeding, 54 sows were selected and were fed with 20% supplementation as fed of wheat bran (WB), soya hulls (SH), or rice hulls (RH) in diets during gestation and lactation. Sows were weighed, backfat thickness was measured ultrasonically and jugular blood samples were collected from all sows. The litter size was equalized to 10, by fostering piglets from sows on the same treatment.
Sows gained 22.0, 21.8, and 25.5kg of net maternal body weight during gestation (for WB, SH, and RH sows, respectively). There was no treatment effect on the body weight change during lactation, however RH sows consumed an average of 133.66 kg of feed, WB sows took 121.29 kg and SH sows took 126.77 kg during lactation. The SH litters gained an average of 59.34 kg of weight during lactation, while other litters gained 51.58 and 49.98 kg (for WB and RH litters, respectively). Regarding serum analysis, exception for aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, measured serum biochemical values were broadly in agreement with earlier reports. Despite the use of additional vegetable oil to balance the energy level, RH sows still had lower concentrations of serum triglycerides in late gestation.
To conclude, different types of fibrous ingredients in the gestation diet influenced most of the investigated reference values for sows. The SH supplementation for sows is an effective approach to give heavier litters at birth and weaning and to increase voluntary feed intake in early lactation.
Weng RC, Dietary supplementation with different types of fiber in gestation and lactation: effects on sow serum biochemical values and performance. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 2020; 33(8): 1323. https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.19.0545
