PSIII-19 Supplementation of mint oil and yeast cell in lactation diets on performance of offspring during the early-post weaning period

Abstract

Abstract Social and dietary stress at weaning can increase oxidative stress in piglets and impact performance during the early post-wean period. A study was conducted to assess yeast cell and mint oil supplementation during suckling and post-wean periods on offspring growth performance. A total of 481 piglets (6.25 ± 3.35 kg BW) from 45 sows were randomly allotted to pens balanced by weight and litter (6-8 pigs/pen) within maternal diet. Pens of pigs received the same dietary treatment as the sow during the suckling phase: control diet (CON), control + yeast cell at 0.2% (YC), control + mint oil at 10 ppm (MO), and control + yeast cell and mint oil (YCMO) for 35 d post-wean in a 4-phase feeding regimen (phase 1, d0-6; phase 2, d7-13; phase 3, d14-19; phase 4, d20-35). Performance was analyzed as randomized complete block with pen as experimental unit and Tukey’s adjustment as means separation test. Piglets from YC sows were heavier (P < 0.05) than CON with MO and YCMO intermediate at weaning (6.9, 6.5, 6.7 and 6.6 ± 0.2 kg, respectively) and day 6 post-wean (7.12, 6.68, 7.01, and 6.75 ± 0.09 kg, respectively) and no difference among groups at day 13 (9.1 ± 0.16 kg), 19 (11.3 ± 0.19 kg) and 35 (19.7 ± 0.35 kg). Overall, daily gain was greater (P < 0.05) CON-fed pigs than YCMO pigs (0.40, 0.39, 0.38, 0.37 ± 0.01 g/d in CON, YC, MO, and YCMO, respectively). Overall feed intake was greater (P < 0.05) for YCMO than MO resulting in lower (P < 0.05) gain:feed in YCMO-fed pigs vs CON and MO with YC-fed pigs intermediate (0.538 vs 0.617, 0.621, and 0.585, respectively). Exposure to yeast cell or mint oil during the suckling and early post-wean periods provided some benefit to offspring performance.