254 Effects of Increasing Daily Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible Lysine Intake of Gilts and Sows During day 35-to-112 of Gestation on Reproductive Performance

Abstract

Abstract Our objective was to determine the effects of increasing daily dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) intake during d35-to-112 of gestation on sow and litter performance. A total of 583 gilts and sows (PIC Camborough) were used. Females were group-housed after d35 of gestation and individually fed with electronic sow feeders (ESF). At d35 of gestation, females were randomly allotted to 1 of 4 treatments that were balanced for body weight (BW) and caliper scores (CS) within parity categories. Treatments consisted of increasing daily dietary SID Lys intake (11.1, 13.5, 16.1, and 18.5 g/d). Both gilts and sows received 1.85 kg/d of a gestation diet containing 2.38 Mcal of NE/kg. Treatments were achieved by different blends of low (0.60% SID Lys) and high (1.00% SID Lys) Lys diets via ESF. Sow was the experimental unit and data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models with the lmer and glmer functions of R. Body weight and CS at d112 of gestation increased (linear, P< 0.05) with increasing daily dietary SID Lys intake. There was no evidence for treatment difference on d112 backfat depth (BD), or changes of BW, CS, and BD during lactation. There was no evidence for treatment difference on total born, percentage born alive and stillbirth, but there was a marginal reduction (linear, P=0.086) on mummified fetuses. Increasing daily dietary SID Lys intake during d35-to-112 of gestation did not affect piglet birth weight, percentage of piglets born with less than 900g, pre-weaning mortality, or piglet average daily gain. In summary, increasing daily dietary SID Lys intake during d35-to-112 of gestation increased female BW and CS, without changing BD, indicating that more lean tissue had been deposited. However, there was no evidence for treatment differences on reproductive performance.