Nutritional strategies to cope with reduced litter weight gain and total tract digestibility in lactating sows

Abstract

Twelve lactating sows were used to evaluate the effects of reducing dietary crude protein (CP) (14% vs. 12%) and increasing neutral detergent fibre (NDF) levels (18% vs. 22%) on litter performance, total tract apparent digestibility and manure composition in a 4 × 4 latin square arrangement during a 36-day lactation period. Diets were isoenergetic (2.9 Mcal ME/kg) and had similar total lysine content (0.9%). In addition, a second aim was to compare a reference external marker method (Cr O ) with an internal feed marker [acid-insoluble ash (AIA)] for the calculation of apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients in lactating sows. The reduction of dietary CP level in lactating sows had no effect on either live-weight or backfat thickness or apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients. However, the piglets' average daily gain (ADG) was reduced in low dietary CP diets, which suggests that sows reduced milk production due to an underestimation of certain essential amino acid requirements (e.g. valine). The increase of dietary NDF level did not affect sow and litter performance. Nevertheless, the total tract apparent digestibility of organic matter, CP and carbohydrates was reduced, and ether extract digestion was increased in high NDF compared to normal NDF diets equally balanced for ME and lysine content. The coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients in lactating sows were greater when using AIA compared to Cr O marker, regardless of dietary CP or NDF level, but their coefficients of variation were lower in the former than in the latter. In lactating sows, a trade-off between litter performance and nutrient digestion is established when reducing dietary CP or increasing NDF levels while maintaining similar lysine content through synthetic amino acids and balancing metabolizable energy through dietary fat sources.

Minimum Effects of Sampling Time on the Apparent Digestibility of Nutrients and Blood Protein Catabolites in Light Lambs

“…This was indeed attained by both dietary treatments in the growing and finishing periods with an intensive concentrate inclusion (nearly 90% of the ration) and barley straw supplement. The reliability of internal markers such as AIA has been questioned as it occasionally overestimates digestibility coefficients when compared with other markers [ 15 , 17 ]. However, Pepeta et al [ 20 ] found that AIA could be used as an accurate and precise marker for estimating nutrient digestibility in sheep.…”

“…These authors observed that feed degradation and faecal elimination increase during feed intake periods, which causes more inconsistency in the faecal content. Additionally, two peaks of eating and drinking occur in feedlot lambs [ 31 ] and grazing lambs [ 17 ], which occur near sunrise (about 8:00 a.m.) and sunset (about 8:00 p.m.). The faecal sampling schedule was planned to gather the potential digestive turnover differences after the morning eating time under ad libitum feeding conditions.…”

“…P was determined by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (ICP-OES, HORIBA Jobin Yvon, Activa family, with AS-500 Autosampler, HORIBA Scientific, Madrid, Spain). Apparent OM, CP and P digestibility coefficients were estimated by the AIA technique, which was determined following the procedure described by Álvarez-Rodríguez et al [ 17 ]. Feed and faeces samples were analysed in duplicate.…”

Dietary fiber and its role in performance, welfare, and health of pigs

“…High inclusion rates of WB at 24 and 42% in gestation diets had no enhancing effect on litter size, piglet viability, and body weight gain (BWG) in primiparous sows, but resulted in increased litter performance in the next parity (Che et al ., 2011). The inclusion of 8% SBP and 3% cereal straw during gestation and lactation had no impact on reproductive performance (Alvarez-Rodriguez et al ., 2017). Similarly, no impact on performance was observed when breeding sows were fed with a mixture of SBP, alfalfa, soybean hulls, grape pomace, and lignocellulose during gestation (Priester et al ., 2020).…”

Effect of Dietary Crude Protein on Productive Efficiency, Nutrient Digestibility, Blood Metabolites and Gastrointestinal Immune Markers in Light Lambs

“…Phosphorus was determined by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (ICP-OES, HORIBA Jobin Yvon, Activa family, with AS-500 Autosampler, HORIBA Scientific, Madrid, Spain). Apparent digestibility of nutrients was estimated by AIA technique, which was determined following the procedure described in Álvarez-Rodríguez et al [17]. All samples were analyzed in duplicate.…”