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The management of feeding strategies that optimize mammary development in swine is not new. Restricted feeding followed by overfeeding of gestating sows in order to induce compensatory growth was also studied in order to improve mammary development and subsequent milk yield. However, the potential impact of such a treatment on the mammary gland of the offspring postnatal is not known. For this reason, this study evaluated the impacts of diet deprivation and subsequent over-allowance during gestation on mammary development, skeletal muscle histochemistry and gene expression in mammary and muscle tissue of offspring at puberty. Twenty three pubertal gilts (11 control, CTL, and 12 treated, TRT) were used. These gilts were born from Yorkshire x Landrace sows that were reared under a conventional or an experimental dietary regimen during gestation. The experimental regimen was designed to restrict growth and then induce compensatory growth by providing 70% (restriction diet, RES) and 115% (over-allowance diet, OVER) of the protein and digestible energy contents provided by the conventional diet. The RES diet was given during the first 10 weeks, starting at mating; of gestation followed by the OVER diet until farrowing and they were fed at a rate of 2.27 kg/day until farrowing. Female offspring from these females were grown until puberty and were slaughtered at 212 ± 4 days of age and mammary tissue and the semitendinosus (ST) muscle were collected.
Weights of TRT gilts was less than those from CTL gilts at birth (P<0.05) but were similar thereafter (until puberty, P>0.1). Mammary composition and mammary expression for the genes were not affected by treatment (P>0.1). Maternal dietary regime during gestation did not influence skeletal muscle microstructure or relative mRNA abundance for IGF1 and IGF2 (P>0.1).
In conclusion, restricted feeding followed by overfeeding of gestating sows has no negative impact on the postnatal growth of their offspring or on their skeletal muscle and mammary tissue characteristics at puberty.
Farmer, C., Palin, M.F., Lösel, D., Rehfeldt, C. and Kalbe, C. 2015. Impact of diet deprivation and subsequent over-allowance of gestating sows on mammary gland and skeletal muscle development of their offspring at puberty. Livestock Science, 175; 113-120. doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2015.02.006
