Effects of dietary inulin during late gestation on sow physiology, farrowing duration and piglet performance

Abstract

In this study there was evaluation of effects of dietary inulin during late gestation on sow physiology, farrowing duration and piglet performance. At day 80 of gestation sows were randomly assigned to four groups：basal diet (CON); or basal diet with 0.8 %; 1.6 %; or 2.4 % inulin. The feeding of the diet with 1.6 % inulin resulted in larger weights of the litter at birth a shorter duration of the farrowing period, lesser average birth interval between piglets, lesser number of piglets dead at birth, and fewer piglets/sow dead at birth (P < 0.05). When sows were fed 0.8 % and 1.6 % IN, there was a larger litter weight at weaning, sow average daily feed intake and piglet average daily gain during lactation compared with values for these variables in the CON group (P < 0.05). Additionally, there was an increase in serum concentration of free fatty acid, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with increasing amounts of inulin in the diet (linear, P < 0.05). Sows fed 1.6 % IN had greater serum concentrations of glucose than those in the CON group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, there was a linear increase in serum activity of total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase with increasing amounts of inulin in the diet (P < 0.05). In conclusion, results of the present study indicated feeding inulin during late gestation improved reproductive performance of sows, thus, may be a novel additive for the pig industry in improving efficiency of pork production.

Keywords: Antioxidative status; Farrowing duration; Insulin sensitivity; Inulin; Sows.