Abstract
The effect of cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) added to the diet of lactating (21 days of lactation) sows on voluntary feed intake, and its impact on the productive and reproductive post-weaning performance was evaluated. Data collected of 72 farrowings from 37 hybrid sows were analyzed during 12-month period. The sows were divided into two groups: (i) control group (CG; n = 18 sows), sows fed only with commercial feed, and (ii) experimental group (EG; n = 19 sows), sows fed with commercial feed plus cactus supplement. The variables evaluated were blood glucose (BG), daily feed intake (DFI) and total feed intake (TFI), loss of body weight (LBW), weaning-estrus interval (WEI), and subsequent litter size (SLS). Data analysis was carried out using fixed effects models. A nested effect was found for farrowing number (FN) into of group and an interaction group × season on the analyzed variables (P < 0.001). EG observed lower levels of BG with 47.0 ± 7.9 mg dL−1 pre-prandial and 56.1 ± 5.9 mg dL−1 post-prandial at the 10th day of lactation (P < 0.05). DFI and TFI were higher in the sows of the EG independently of the FN and season (P < 0.05). No differeces were observed on the nested effect of FN into group on the levels of BG (P < 0.05). Autumn showed the higher TFI: 121.4 kg−1 sow−1 (P < 0.05). Sows from CG 3rd farrowing and from EG 4th farrowing observed higher LBW (13.8 and 6.9%, respectively) (P < 0.05). Summer showed a higher LBW with 12.7% for CG and 8.2% for EG (P < 0.05). EG showed a lower WEI (5.5 days) and greater SLS up to 1.8 piglets more depending upon the season (P < 0.05). The lactating sow’s diet supplemented with cactus can counterbalance the negative effects of lactational hypophagia due to reduction on levels of BG during lactation and an increase on DFI and, therefore, improves performance of LBW, WEI, and SLS.
Highlights
The importance of the feeding of the sows, during lactation phase, resides in its effect on the productivity of the herd (Xie et al 2015)
Regarding the effect of group (P < 0.001), the levels of blood glucose (BG) pre- and post-prandial experimental group (EG) were lower than control group (CG) (P < 0.05), BG pre-prandial 55.5 ± 8.5 vs 70.5 ± 8.4 mg dL−1, and BG post-prandial 65.3 ± 10.0 vs 77.3 ± 10.4 mg dL−1 for EG and CG, respectively
Results that showed some consistency along the four seasons of the year analyzed (Fig. 2), while the levels BG pre- and postprandial in fall and winter showed greater variability in EG compared to the rest of the seasons analyzed (Fig. 2)
Summary
The importance of the feeding of the sows, during lactation phase, resides in its effect on the productivity of the herd (Xie et al 2015). Several authors have pointed out the effect of quantity and quality lactating sow feed intake on increased milk production (Hansen et al 2012) and weight of litter at weaning (Tan et al 2015). Suriyasomboon et al (2006) indicate that the season of year is a factor that is associated with the productivity post-weaning of the sow, since the increase in environmental temperature has a negative effect on reproductive indicators of the sow, either by acting directly on ovarian function or at the. The elevated temperatures have a negative effect on the volume of ejaculate, total sperm count, and morphology of the sperm of the boars, which will be reflected in smaller size of subsequent litter (Suriyasomboon et al 2004)
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