Productive effects of a colostrum-oriented amino acid dietary supply for sows in transition from gestation to lactation

Figures & data

Figure 1. Lysine content and ratio of the other essential amino acids to lysine in the pools of colostra collected from sows of the different parity class in the farm.

Figure 2. Comparison between the ratio of amino acids to lysine (=100) in colostra obtained in the farm (general mean of pooled samples) and sow mature milk (NRC 2012).

Table 1. Composition of colostrum pools used in the preliminary test for the assessment of colostrum composition.

Pool, n	Parity number of sows	Number of sows with colostrum sample in the pool
1	1	2
2	2–3	4
3	4–5	6
4	6–10	4

Table 2. Ingredient composition and calculated nutrient contents of the control diet and of the supplemented transition diet.

Ingredient	Unit	Control	Treated
Corn	%	20.68	20.50
Wheat bran	%	20.00	20.00
Barley	%	14.00	14.00
Wheat	%	12.00	12.00
Sorghum	%	8.00	8.00
Dried sugar beep pulp	%	6.50	6.50
Dried brewers’ grains	%	5.00	5.00
Soya bean meal 48, % crude protein	%	4.00	4.00
Sunflower meal 36, % crude protein	%	3.00	3.00
Whole linseed	%	2.50	2.50
Calcium carbonate	%	1.50	1.50
Vitamin – mineral premix	%	1.00	1.00
Animal fat	%	1.00	1.00
Salt	%	0.40	0.40
L-Lysine hydrochloride (78, %)	%	0.24	0.24
L-Threonine (98, %)	%	0.09	0.16
L-Valine (98, %)	%	–	0.08
L-Tryptophan (98, %)	%	–	0.03
Choline chloride 75, % liquid	%	0.05	0.05
Dicalcium phosphate	%	0.04	0.04
Calculated nutrient
Net energy	Kcal/kg	2145	2146
Metabolisable energy	Kcal/kg	2932	2934
Crude protein	%	14.14	14.26
Fat	%	4.43	4.42
Crude fibre	%	5.99	5.99
Ash	%	5.00	5.00
Calcium	%	0.74	0.74
Phosphorus	%	0.50	0.49
Starch	%	36.70	36.60
Sugars	%	2.98	2.97
N D F	%	20.11	20.09
A D F	%	8.06	8.06
Lysine	%	0.70	0.70
Methionine	%	0.29	0.29
Cysteine	%	0.27	0.27
Threonine	%	0.56	0.63
Valine	%	0.65	0.73
Arginine	%	0.81	0.81
Tryptophan	%	0.17	0.20
Isoleucine	%	0.50	0.50
Leucine	%	1.04	1.04
Phenylalanine	%	0.63	0.63
Histidine	%	0.34	0.34

Table 3. Influence of amino acid supplementation to the diet of transition sow on litter characteristics and survival.

	Mean		SEM	p Value
Item	CON	TRT		Diet	Parity class^a	Other covariate
Born alive, n	14.77	14.13	0.365	.226	.152	–
Still born, n	1.10	0.77	0.195	.245	.194	–
Total born, n	15.86	14.91	0.425	.113	.498	–
Stillborn/total born, %	5.27	4.26	0.175	.329	.028	<.0001^d
Average live weight at birth, g	1297	1359	28	.126	.001	–
Suckled piglets after cross-fostering, n	13.44	13.24	0.205	.485	.426	–
Average live weight after cross-fostering, g	1317	1344	27	.465	.001	–
Total weaned pigs, n	11.82	11.79	0.215	.918	.808	–
Dead piglets 1st 24, h/pigs born alive, %	5.19	4.17	0.183	.373	.417	.932^e
Dead piglets after 24, h/total post-adoption^b, %	9.83	7.51	0.142	.135	.353	.034^f
Total dead piglets /total suckled pigs^c, %	14.50	10.99	0.114	.049	.070	.112^g
Average daily gain of piglets from birth to weaning, g	215	210	3.1	.575	.002	.004^e,^f

^aClasses of parity: 1; 2; 3; 4–5; >5. The interaction between diet and parity class was never statistically significant.

^bIn total 25 and 32 pigs were cross-fostered in CON and TRT groups, respectively.

^cAt weaning. Considering the number of pigs present after cross-fostering.

^dNumber of total pigs born.

^eNumber of total born alive.

^fNumber of total pigs after cross-fostering.

^gNumber of total suckled pigs.

CON: control group; TRT: treated group.

Table 4. Influence of amino acid supplementation to the diet of transition sow on the composition of colostrum.

	Mean			p Value
Items	CON	TRT	SEM	Diet	Parity class^a
Protein, %	18.58	19.13	0.57	.504	.128
Fat, %	6.41	6.50	0.24	.791	<.001
Lactose, %	2.86	2.95	0.07	.370	.003
Urea, mg/100 mL	52.54	52.21	0.87	.789	.990

^aClasses of parity: 1; 2; 3; 4–5; >5. The interaction between diet and parity class and the covariate number of pigs born alive were never statistically significant and were not included in the final analysis.

CON: control group; TRT: treated group.

Table 5. Back fat and muscle depth in the two groups of sows at the start of the trial and at weaning.

	Mean				p Value
Measures	CON	TRT	SEM	Diet	Parity class^a	Initial back fat	Initial muscle
At 5 d before farrowing:
Back fat, mm	15.6	14.8	0.41	0.183	.460	–	–
Muscle, mm	44.5	44.1	0.88	0.778	.170	–	–
At weaning:
Back fat, mm	13.1	13.4	0.27	0.349	.896	.076	.059
Muscle, mm	36.7	37.0	0.65	0.793	.859	.0004	.0002
Back fat loss^b, mm	−2.5	−1.4	0.43	0.097	.868	–	–
Muscle loss^b, mm	−7.4	−7.4	0.82	0.966	.934	–	–
							–

^aClasses of parity: 1; 2; 3; 4–5; >5. The interaction between diet and parity class was never statistically significant.

^bDifference between values 5 d before farrowing and at weaning.

CON: control group; TRT: treated group.

Table 6. Influence of amino acid supplementation to the diet of transition sow on the concentration of immunoglobulins (Ig) of colostrum and saliva.

	Mean
Igs (mg/mL)	CON	TRT	SEM	Diet	Parity class^a
Colostrum
IgA	12.10	15.60	0.98	0.002	0.011
IgG	36.70	53.70	14.30	0.192	0.095
IgM	2.58	2.26	0.16	0.104	0.003
Saliva^b
IgA	0.85	0.84	0.17	0.970	0.040
IgG	0.22	0.27	0.04	0.320	0.430

^aClasses of parity: 1; 2; 3; 4-5; >5. The interaction between diet and parity class was never statistically significant. The number of pigs born alive was statistically significant (p value=.043; coefficient = 0.21) and considered for IgA in colostrum.

^bTaken from sows approximately 2 h after the first-morning meal after farrowing.

CON: control group; TRT: treated group.

Figure 3. Alpha diversity for the index of Chao1, Shannon and Simpson in the two dietary groups of sows. Chao1 index differed for p = .031.

Table 7. Results for Adonis test for the diet and parity class^a effect on faecal microbiota of sows.

Factor	Explained R^b	p Value
Diet	0.023	.277
Parity class	0.121	.003^b

^aClasses of parity: 1; 2; 3; 4–5; >5.

^bSingle comparisons: 1 vs. 5, R² 0.10 p adj <.01; 1 vs. 4, R² 0.10 p adj = .07; 1 vs. 2, R² = 0.10 p adj = .05, 2 vs. 5 R² = 0.07 p adj = .06).

Figure 4. NMDS plot for the effect of diet and parity class using the Bray–Curtis matrix of distance.

Figure 5. Box plots for the mean relative abundances of taxa differently expressed between control and treated group.

NRC. 2012. Nutrient requirements of swine. Washington (DC): National Research Council, National Academies Press.

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Data availability statement

The datasets on microbiota data are available in the PiGutNet area of the European Nucleotide Database (ENA) repository with the number PRJEB43707. The other derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [PB] on request.

Funding

Project F61–Reg.(UE)1305/2013–PSR 2014/2020 DGR Emilia-Romagna n.227/2017– FOCUS AREA 3A–Operazione 16.2.01 (Coordinator: Agricola Tre valli). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.