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Effect of Doubling Daily Energy Intake during the Last Two Weeks of Pregnancy on Pig Birth Weight, Survival and Weaning Weight¹

US Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration, Agricultural Research, Clay Center, NE 68933

Abstract

Eighty-eight multiparous sows of four breeds —British Landrace (BL), Chester White (CW), Large White (LW) and Yorkshire (Y)—were mated to boars of their own breed or another breed—BL, Hampshire (H) or Y—to form eight breed groups. All sows were fed daily 1.8 kg of a standard 14% protein gestation diet based on corn-soybean meal through day 100 of pregnancy (6,000 kcal digestible energy/day). From day 100 of gestation to parturition, each sow received either the basal diet (6,000 kcal digestible energy/day) or the basal diet plus 1.82 kg corn starch (12,000 kcal digestible energy/day). All sows were fed a 16% protein corn-soybean meal-based diet ad libitum from day 1 to day 28 of lactation. Energy intake during gestation had no effect on individual pig birth weight, percentage survival or 28-day body weight. There were differences among breeds in pig birth weight (P<.01) and 28-day weight (P<.01), and a breed X gestation energy level interaction (P<.05) was found, but the biological significance is questionable because of the small sample size. Pigs that nursed before blood samples were taken had lower (P<.01) hematocrit than pigs not allowed to nurse before blood sampling. Energy intake of the dam had no effect on the magnitude of the difference between nursed and nonnursed pigs. We conclude that the normal pregnant dam maintains blood glucose homeostasis during hyperalimentation, thereby rendering ineffective this approach to increasing neonatal growth and survival.

¹ The authors are grateful to R. L. Lindvall, Wayne Peshek and associates, for animal care and feeding and for obtaining blood samples of newborn pigs; to Dale Hill, Scott McDowell, Denise Fricke and Randi Kundre, for analysis of blood; to Peg Green, for stenographic work, and to Wayne Hinerman and associates, for statistical analysis of the data.