Abstract
Pre-mating diets can influence piglet birth weight and within-litter birth weight variation and thereby piglet survival and development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the litter characteristics of young sows whose pre-mating diets received different supplementation. The supplements included a top-dressing of 200 g, consisting of either wheat (CON) or wheat plus microfibrillated cellulose, L-carnitine or L-arginine at one of two supplementation levels (low and high) in late lactation and during the weaning-to-oestrus interval (WEI). The second objective was to investigate the role of body condition loss and IGF-1 concentration during the WEI for subsequent litter characteristics. In total, sows after their first (N =41) and second (N =15) lactation were used. One week before weaning, the sows were allocated to the seven treatments based on the number of piglets and BW loss from farrowing until 1 week before weaning. Pre-mating diets did not affect litter characteristics at subsequent farrowing. However, at subsequent farrowing, sows after their first lactation had a lower total number of piglets born per litter (18.3 v. 20.3), higher mean piglet birth weight (1365 v. 1253 g), lower CV of birth weight (20.0 v. 26.1%) and lower percentage of piglets <1000 g (11.5 v. 24.4%) than sows after their second lactation. Litter weight at second parturition was positively related to IGF-1 during the WEI after first lactation (P <0.04). Within parity, piglet mean birth weight was positively related to IGF-1 at oestrus (P <0.02). Surprisingly, within parity, a higher relative loin muscle depth loss during previous lactation was related to lower CV and SD of birth weight (P <0.05, for both). In conclusion, pre-mating diets did not affect litter characteristics at subsequent birth. However, a higher IGF-1 concentration during the WEI was positively associated with subsequent litter weight and piglet mean birth weight. Further studies should elucidate the role of IGF-1 during the WEI for subsequent litter characteristics and dietary interventions to stimulate IGF-1.
Highlights
Data for body condition loss during lactation, IGF-1 concentration and follicle development during the weaning-to-oestrus interval (WEI) were presented in our companion paper (Han et al, 2020)
The average litter size was 19.0 total born piglets, and litter size was negatively related to piglet birth weight and positively related to within-litter birth weight variation, which corroborates with previous studies (Milligan et al, 2002; Quesnel et al, 2008; Wientjes et al, 2012a)
In our companion paper (Han et al, 2020), we reported that the used pre-mating diets did not affect plasma IGF-1 or follicle development during the WEI in these sows, and the current paper reports a lack of effect on subsequent litter characteristics
Summary
Litter size in the pig has increased in recent decades because of genetic selection, which results in a lower mean birth weight and higher relations between plasma IGF-1 concentrations before ovulation and piglet characteristics at subsequent parturition have not been established.In our companion paper (Han et al, 2020), we used L-carnitine (LC) and L-arginine (AR), expecting them to stimulate IGF-1 since these amino acids have previously been reported to increase IGF-1 concentration in sows (Doberenz et al, 2006; Zhu et al, 2017; Guo et al, 2017). Litter size in the pig has increased in recent decades because of genetic selection, which results in a lower mean birth weight and higher relations between plasma IGF-1 concentrations before ovulation and piglet characteristics at subsequent parturition have not been established. The sows' body condition loss during lactation may have an impact on piglet characteristics at subsequent parturition (Wientjes et al, 2013) This is probably related to the consequences of the nutritional deficiencies on plasma IGF-1 that causes body reserve mobilization and impacts follicle development during the weaning-to-oestrus interval (WEI; Van den Brand et al, 2001; Quesnel et al, 2009; Wientjes et al, 2013; Han et al, 2020). Whether or not lactation weight loss-related IGF-1 has an impact on subsequent litter characteristics has not been studied
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