Effect of floor cooling and dietary amino acids content on performance and behaviour of lactating primiparous sows during summer

Abstract

Fifty nine primiparous sows PIC Camborough 23 were distributed in a completely randomized 2 × 2 (with and without floor cooling × two dietary treatments) factorial design with 16 sows/treatment, each sow being considered as an experimental unit. Four replicates of sixteen sows each were used during the trial with the objective of evaluating the effects of floor cooling and the use of dietary amino acid contents on their performance and behaviour during summer. The sows were distributed among the treatments according to body weight and backfat thickness after farrowing. The sows were maintained in the experiment until weaning at 21 days of lactation. The two experimental diets supplied the same levels of crude protein (22%), metabolizable energy (ME; 14.65 MJ/kg) and levels of essential digestible AA relative to digestive lysine and differed according to the digestible lysine to ME ratio (0.75 vs. 0.82 g/MJ of ME). The temperature of the water circulating in the cooled floor was maintained at about 17°C. Based on the average minimum and maximum temperatures (21.5 and 29.5°C) obtained during the experimental trial, it can be assumed that the sows were exposed to periods of heat stress. The replicate and the interaction between replicate and treatment effects on all the measurements were not significant. Similarly, no effect of diet or interaction between diet and floor cooling system was found for all criteria measured. An effect (P b 0.05) of floor cooling on average daily feed intake was observed and floor cooling sows showed a higher average (P b 0.05) digestible lysine (61.5 vs. 51.8 g/d) and ME (78.2 vs. 65.9 MJ/d) intakes. The sows submitted to floor cooling showed, consistently, higher absolute values for average weight (+ 8.5 kg) and backfat (+ 0.75 mm) at weaning, compared with the control sows. The sows submitted to the cooled floor showed a shorter (P b 0.01) weaning-to-oestrus interval. The piglet and litter's daily weight gain (DWG), average weight at weaning (AWW) and total weight gain during lactation (TWG) were higher (P b 0.01) for the floor cooling sows. The floor cooling sows showed a higher (P b 0.01) daily milk production. The respiratory rate and rectal temperature values were lower (P b 0.01) for the floor cooling sows. There were differences (P b 0.01) on the cutaneous temperatures measured on the different parts of the sow's body, with the animals submitted to the cooled floor having lower values. The sows submitted to floor cooling spent less (P b 0.01) time in lateral recumbency inactive, more time nursing (P b 0.05) and more time feeding (P b 0.01) compared with control sows. The floor cooling under the sows increased daily feed intake and lysine intake, leading to a lower body weight loss, a lower weaning-to-oestrus interval and also improved nursing behaviour of the sows, leading to a higher milk production and, consequently, higher weight gains of piglets and litter during the lactation period.

Adaptation to hot climate and strategies to alleviate heat stress in livestock production

“…The reduction in floor temperature improves sensible heat flux between the animal and the floor. According to Silva et al (2009), milk production increased from 7.2 to 9.5 kg/day in primiparous lactating sows during summertime in an experimental trial performed in Brazil. In this experiment, the temperature of the water circulating in the cooled floor was maintained at about 178C Feeding modifications Several extensive reviews of nutritional strategies for managing heat-stress dairy cows (West, 2003), poultry (Lin et al, 2006;Daghir, 2009) and pigs (Renaudeau et al, 2008) have been published.…”

Limits to sustained energy intake. XIII. Recent progress and future perspectives

“…The HDL theory therefore predicts that problems with dissipating heat at peak lactation will be more evident in larger animals (Speakman and Król, 2010a;Speakman and Król, 2010b). This is indeed the case, and there is a rich literature predating the HDL theory, showing that heat dissipation is a primary factor influencing lactation performance in many large domesticated mammals such as pigs, sheep, goats and cattle (Quiniou et al, 2000;Lacetera et al, 2003;Renaudeau et al, 2003;Cam and Kuran, 2004;Berman, 2009;Silva et al, 2009). In fact, amelioration of heat stress in lactating dairy cows is a major issue in the dairy industry, and reduced milk production and increased mortality during heat waves cost many millions of dollars.…”

An overview of hourly rhythm of demand-feeding pattern by a controlled feeding system on productive performance of lactating sows during summer

“…The exposure of sows to heat stress reduces their voluntary consumption (Silva et al 2009). Inadequate feed intake will lead to the increased depletion of maternal reserves, resulting in reduced performance due to ongoing lactation and reproductive failures (Houde et al 2010).…”