125 Effects of Dietary Fiber Supplementation in Late Gestation on Farrowing Characteristics and Sows and Litters Performance. (7th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Valadares, Willian R; Leal, Leonardo A; de Almeida, Kevin; Perondi, Dani; Kummer, Rafael; Vier, Carine M; Lu, Ning; Orlando, Uislei A; Ulguim, Rafael R; Bortolozzo, Fernando P; Mellagi, Ana Paula G
• Is Part Of: Journal of animal science. Volume 99(2021)Supplement 1
• Page Start: 55
• Page End: 55
• Publication Date: 2021-05-07
• Subjects: fiber -- late gestation -- parturition; Livestock -- Periodicals; Livestock; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 636.005
• DOI: 10.1093/jas/skab054.092
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8812

Abstract

Abstract: Our objective was to evaluate the effects of dietary fiber supplementation in late gestation on farrowing characteristics and sow and piglet's performance. On d 105 of gestation, a total of 420 sows were selected according to body condition score, caliper units and parity (0 to 6), and randomly assigned to one of two treatments in a completely randomized design. Treatments included 1) Low fiber diet (LF) with 2.02% crude fiber; and 2) High fiber diet (HF) with 5.12% crude fiber. The LF diet was based on corn and soybean meal with 3.26 Mcal of ME/kg and 0.60% SID Lys. The HF diet was corn-soybean meal-based with 10% soy hulls, containing 3.13 Mcal/kg and 0.60% SID Lys. Sows in both treatments were fed 1.8 kg/d. Fecal score was daily evaluated until farrowing. Farrowing duration and birth weight of born alive and stillborn piglets were recorded. The farrowing was manually assisted when the birth interval was longer than 30 min. Data were analyzed by the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS, and comparisons were performed with Student's t-test at 5% of significance. Sows fed HF diet had fewer days with dry feces compared to those fed LF diet (P = 0.008). No evidence for treatment effects were observed on farrowing duration (P = 0.25) and farrowing assistance (P = 0.09). Sows fed HF diet had greater number of total piglets born (P = 0.01), but there was no evidence (P > 0.05) for treatment differences on the percentage of piglets born alive, stillborn piglets, or mummified fetuses. Piglets from sows fed LF diet had a greater birth weight than those from sows fed HF diet (P = 0.04). No evidence for differences were observed between treatments for pre-weaning mortality, number and weight of weaned pigs (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the HF diet did not show positive effects on farrowing duration, farrowing assistance, and sow and piglet performance.