The effects of food intake in gestation on sows lactating for 14 days

Abstract

ABSTRACTNinety-two gilts in replicates of four littermates were mated at puberty at a mean live weight and age of 95 kg and 191 days respectively. The littermates were allocated at random to one of four food allowances (kg/day) during four successive gestations: (A) 1·5, (B) 2·0 in parity 1 followed by 1·5 in subsequent parities, (C) 20 and (D) 2·5. A diet calculated to contain 12·7 MJ digestible energy per kg was fed throughout gestation, the 2-week lactation and from weaning to conception.The numbers of sows which conceived at parity 5 when the experiment terminated were 10, 12, 13 and 16 for treatments A to D respectively. Sow live weight at conception differed significantly (P < 0·01) from parity 2 onwards: the maximum live weights of sows on treatments A and B did not exceed 130 to 135 kg, but the live weights of sows on treatment D continued to increase to reach 195 kg at the end of the experiment. The in vivo skin plus subcutaneous fat thickness at the P2 location differed significantly (P < 0·001) between treatments from parity 2 onwards, decreasing by 3 mm in treatment A and increasing by 6 mm in treatment D from the start of the experiment to conception at parity 4. The interval from weaning to conception was significantly (P < 0·05) lower in treatment B in parity 2. This was the only significant effect and was contrary to the tendency for the interval to increase as the food allowance in gestation was decreased. The numbers of pigs born alive, stillborn or weaned (including fostered pigs) were not significantly affected by treatment. Birth weight and post-natal growth rates were significantly (P < 0·05) increased after parity 1 as gestation food allowance increased, with the exception of the post-natal growth rate in parity 3. Overall birth weight was increased by 018 kg per pig and weaning weight by 0·93 kg per pig on treatment D compared with treatment A.