Abstract
BackgroundNutritional strategies for sows designed to reduce peripartum stress are suggested to support postpartum recovery and productivity. Spray-dried plasma (SDP) in sow feed has been reported to benefit sow and litter performance. Stressed animals fed diets with SDP have a more efficient immune response supporting animal recovery and health. The objectives of the present study using 452 sows (147 parity 1 sows, 148 parity 2 sows) were to determine if 0, 0.5 or 2.5% spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) in peripartum feed provided from entry in maternity through day 5 of lactation affects sow productivity and serological immune and oxidation status markers around parturition. Post-weaning sow productivity parameters including litter size at the next parturition was evaluated, but peripartum diets were only provided during the first parturition.ResultsIn the first parturition, total born litter size was lower (P < 0.05) especially for sows allotted to the peripartum diet with 2.5% SDPP. Percentage of stillborn pigs decreased quadratically (P < 0.05) for sows fed 0.5% or 2.5% SDPP compared to 0% SDPP in peripartum feed and this result was not affected by total born litter size. Serum glutathione peroxidase activity linearly increased (P < 0.01) with increased dietary SDPP for both prepartum and postpartum sampling periods. In the next parturition, total born pigs from combined data of parity 1 and 2 sows linearly increased (P < 0.05) and live born pigs tended (P = 0.09) to linearly increase as level of SDPP increased and this result was not affected by total born litter size in the first parturition. The change in total and live born pigs from the first to the next parturition linearly (P < 0.01) increased as dietary SDPP increased for parity 1 and 2 sows.ConclusionsThe reduced percentage of stillborn pigs and increased litter size of parity 1 and 2 sows in the next parturition was independent of total born litter size in the first parturition suggesting SDPP in peripartum sow feed may have merit for reducing stillborn pigs and benefit litter size in the next parturition for parity 1 and parity 2 sows.
Highlights
Nutritional strategies for sows designed to reduce peripartum stress are suggested to support postpartum recovery and productivity
The average days from entry in maternity to the day of the initial parturition differed for the effect of parity and the interaction of diet and parity, with a quadratic tendency (P = 0.06) for spray-dried porcine plasma (SDPP) level in the diet
The covariance of total peripartum feed days was included in the model for each sow group to evaluate differences in average daily peripartum feed intake corrected for feed refusals
Summary
Nutritional strategies for sows designed to reduce peripartum stress are suggested to support postpartum recovery and productivity. Spray-dried plasma (SDP) in sow feed has been reported to benefit sow and litter performance. Litter size has increased steadily over the past several years and the nutritional needs for high-prolific sows increases, especially during late gestation to support the rapidly growing fetuses and to maintain sow body condition in preparation for lactation. Energy concentration, and (or) daily feed allowance in late gestation for sows with large litter size need to be adjusted to maintain sow body condition and support fetal growth during late gestation and throughout lactation [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Other studies have demonstrated benefits from using ingredients with high fiber content in gestation and lactation feed to support satiety, sow body condition and physiology, colostrum production, and survival of progeny [8,9,10,11]
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