Responses in colostrum production and immunoglobulin concentrations to conjugated linoleic acid fed to multiparous sows during late gestation

Feeding Conjugated Linoleic Acid without a Combination of Medium-Chain Fatty Acids during Late Gestation and Lactation Improves Pre-Weaning Survival Rates of Gilt and Sow Progeny

“…Piglet growth performance was not affected by CLA supplementation in agreement with the previous literature [4,7]. However, Wu et al [10] showed that piglet growth performance increased linearly in line with an increase in CLA inclusion level (up to 2.25% CLA oil; total 1.35% CLA isomers), which may indicate that the levels used in the current study were insufficient to noticeably impact piglet performance. This is further evidenced by the observation of increased milk yield and piglet pre-weaning growth rates in studies that fed 1% CLA oil (approximately 0.6% biologically active CLA isomers) or higher [6,35,37].…”

“…These studies also had a comparatively low number of animals studied compared to the present study (eight to twelve versus >30 dams per treatment), an important consideration when measuring variables such as pre-weaning mortality rates. Regardless, it seems from this study that liveborn pre-weaning mortality rates are improved by the inclusion of CLA in the sow diet for reasons other than improving colostrum and milk IgG concentration or piglet energy metabolism, as suggested by other authors who fed CLA at higher inclusion levels [4,5,6,8,10]. It is more likely that overall colostrum intake was increased in these piglets, and that the concentrations of CLA isomers in colostrum and milk were enhanced [4,6].…”

“…Given the lack of improvements in performance between piglets from primiparous and multiparous sows fed CLA and MCFA separately, it was therefore not surprising that there were no advantages to feeding both ingredients together in the BOTH treatment. It was unfortunate that other immunoglobulins such as IgA and IgM were not measured in the current study, as feeding CLA from day 85 of gestation until farrowing has been shown to improve concentrations of IgA and IgM in sow serum, colostrum, and piglet serum [10]. Furthermore, dietary MCFA may have immunomodulatory effects, such as stimulating IgA production in response to a bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge [11].…”

“…Data as to whether CLA increases [37] or depresses [10] colostrum fat concentration are equivocal. Results from the current study concur with Cordero et al [6] that there was no effect on colostrum fat concentration, which is also consistent with the studies of Bontempo et al [4] and Schmid et al [38] that found no effect on milk fat concentration.…”

“…Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) refers to a group of positional and geometrical isomers of linoleic acid (18:2) that, when fed to the dam in late gestation and (or) lactation, has been shown to alter the fatty acid (FA) profiles of colostrum and milk [4,5,6] and improve the growth performance of progeny [6,7,8,9]. Additionally, piglets born to sows fed CLA have shown improved circulating immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations, suggesting a role of CLA for improved passive immunity [4,8,10]. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) are FA that contain six to twelve carbon atoms, possess antibacterial properties, improve intestinal integrity, and can be used as an efficient energy source by enterocytes [11].…”