Effect of pad-fan cooling and dietary organic acid supplementation during late gestation and lactation on reproductive performance and antioxidant status of multiparous sows in hot weather

Abstract

A 2 × 2 factorial arrangement (rearing room with or without pad-fan cooling × diet with or without 2.5 kg/t organic acid) was used to evaluate the effect of pad-fan cooling and dietary organic acid supplementation during perinatal period on reproductive performance and antioxidant status of sows in hot weather. This study was conducted in a subtropical city in Guangdong Province in South China between August and October, 2015. At day 85 of gestation, a total of 112 sows were randomly assigned to the four treatments with 28 sows per treatment, and maintained until day 21 of lactation, and the feeding trial lasted for 51 days. During the experimental period, room temperature and humidity were recorded hourly. The lactation feed intake of sows (P = 0.109) and stillbirths (P < 0.05) increased when the sows were reared in the room with the pad-fan cooling against the room without pad-fan cooling. The number of weak newborns per litter and the malondialdehyde content in days 14 and 21 milk decreased (P < 0.05), while the lactation feed intake of sows, weaned litter weights, and individual pig weights increased when the sows were fed the organic acid (P < 0.05). In conclusion, pad-fan cooling in rearing room improved the lactation feed intake of sows, and dietary organic acid supplementation improved reproductive performance and milk antioxidant status of sows. Pad-fan cooling is recommended in farrowing room, but not in gestating room.

Effects of negative pressure and directed ducted cooling systems on the performance of lactating sows

“…The interaction of these bioclimatic elements provided a reduction of 2.7 in the BGHI and, thus, may have resulted in the improvement of sensible avenues of heat loss to the environment, allowing a thermal condition closer to the sows' comfort zone. The increase in sow feed intake due to the use of cooling systems has been observed in previous studies (Kiefer et al, 2012;Perin et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, continuous exposure to high ambient temperatures will adversely affect estrous behavior and may also lead to reduced conception rate and increased embryonic mortality (Renaudeau et al, 2003). Previous studies have suggested that the implementation of cooling strategies is crucial to improve reproductive and productive sow performance under tropical conditions (Renaudeau et al, 2003;Kiefer et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2018).…”

Organic Acids Improve Growth Performance with Potential Regulation of Redox Homeostasis, Immunity, and Microflora in Intestines of Weaned Piglets

“…Interestingly, both of the two organic acid blends significantly improved or tended to improve the redox status, including the enhancement of the serum T-AOC, SOD, and/or CAT activities of piglets. This may be owed to the piglets ingesting acidifiers containing formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid, citric acid and/or sorbic acid, which have a function in maintaining redox homeostasis in animals [ 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”

Effects of Maternal Supplementation with Rare Earth Elements during Late Gestation and Lactation on Performances, Health, and Fecal Microbiota of the Sows and Their Offspring

“…In production, oxidative stress can give rise to suboptimal livestock health conditions and economic loss. Especially, oxidative status of the sows is not only closely related to their own health, but also that of their nursing piglets [27,28]. The antioxidant effects of REE have been previously reported and confirmed [29,30,31,32,33] on various kinds of animals.…”