Evaporative cooling for lactating sows under high ambient temperature

Abstract

-Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the evaporative cooling of the air at farrowing on the performance of lactating sows under high environmental temperature conditions in the Central West region of Brazil. One hundred and forty-four lactating sows -46 of first and second farrowing (experiment I) and 98 from the third to eighth farrowing (experiment II) -were used. Sows were distributed in experimental design of randomized blocks consisting of two rooms (with air cooling and control), with the sow as the experimental unit. The average duration of lactation was 21 days.Sows were fed ad libitum with the same lactation diet. In experiment I, the air cooling increased the daily feed intake, reduced the total and percent weight loss, increased the weight of the piglets and litters at weaning and improved the daily milk production of sows. However, the air cooling did not affect the weight of the sows or the number of piglets at weaning. In experiment II the air cooling increased the daily feed intake of the sows, reduced the total and percent weight loss, increased the weight and the weight gain of the piglets and litters and improved the daily milk production of the sows. Air cooling enables the increase of the daily feed intake and, therefore, of nutrients by the sows, with consequent reduction of mobilization of body reserves and the increase in the milk production and in the weight of piglets and litters at weaning, regardless the farrowing order of the sow.

Evaporative cooling system for gestating and lactating sows: a systematic review

“…All others reported an increase in this variable (kg d -1 ) with the use of the evaporative cooling system. This increase varied from 0.40 kg d -1 (MORALES et al, 2013) to 1,67 kg d -1 (KIEFER et al, 2012), the latter observed in primiparous sows ( Table 6).…”

“…In 54% of the studies, the effect of the evaporative cooling system on pregnancy and / or lactation on some piglet-related variable was evaluated. From these parameters, piglet weight at weaning was the most influenced and showed improvement of up to 22% for lactating sows (parity one and two) when submitted to the cooling system (KIEFER et al, 2012). Differences in mortality of piglets with the use of cooling were not observed ( Table 6).…”

Efeito do resfriamento evaporativo e do balanço eletrolítico sobre a lactação de porcas em condições de verão tropical

“…Kiefer et al (2012) também não encontraram diferença significativa no número de leitões desmamados ou mortalidade ao desmame para porcas submetidas ao SRE na maternidade. Teixeira et al (2004) igualmente obtiveram maior peso dos leitões ao desmame com o SRE.…”

Meta-analysis of recommended digestible lysine levels for primiparous lactating sows

“…Sow feed intake is one of the most important variables in lactation and must be constantly evaluated as it affects the availability of amino acids, which can determine whether a sow meets their nutritional requirements. It is influenced by sow parity (YOUNG et al, 2004), body composition (COOPER et al, 2001a), genetics (SAUBER et al, 1998, and environmental temperature (KIEFER et al, 2012). Currently, it is normal for lactating primiparous sows to achieve daily feed intake of less than the predetermined ideal values (COTA et al, 2003), and less than 18% of sows show the ideal pattern of feed intake during lactation (KOKETSU et al, 1996).…”