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A regional evaluation of injections of high levels of vitamin A on reproductive performance of sows^1,2

M. D. Lindemann^*,,3, J. H. Brendemuhl^*,, L. I. Chiba^*,, C. S. Darroch^*,#, C. R. Dove^*,||, M. J. Estienne^*,¶ and A. F. Harper^*,¶

^* S-145 Regional Research Committee on Nutrition and Management of Swine for Increased Reproduction Efficiency; and Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546; and Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611; and Department of Animal Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; and ^# Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tennessee, Martin 38238; and ^|| Department of Animal Science, University of Georgia, Tifton 30602; and and ^¶ Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg 24061

³ Corresponding author: mdlind1{at}uky.edu

A regional study involving 443 litters from 182 sows was conducted at 5 cooperating experiment stations to determine the effects of an i.m. injection of vitamin A at weaning and breeding on subsequent litter size of sows. Sows were assigned to 1 of 3 treatments given at weaning and again at breeding: 1) a placebo i.m. injection (2 mL of corn oil), 2) i.m. injection with 250,000 IU of vitamin A (1 mL of vitamin A palmitate in oil), and 3) i.m. injection with 500,000 IU of vitamin A (2 mL of vitamin A palmitate in oil). Corn-soybean meal diets in gestation were formulated to contain 13% CP and 0.60% total Lys. Lactation diets were formulated to contain 17% CP and 0.90% Lys. A common vitamin-mineral premix that supplied 11,000 IU of vitamin A/kg of diet (as-fed) was used by all stations. As expected, station effects were noted for many response measures. Analysis of the data also revealed both treatment x station and treatment x parity interactions for litter size responses. The treatment x parity interactions were stronger than the treatment x station effects, and when the litter size response was separated into early parity sows (parity 1 and 2) and late-parity sows (parity 3 to 6), the treatment x station interactions were no longer present in either subgroup. For sows of parity 1 and 2, litter sizes were increased linearly (P 0.003) for treatment 1 to 3, respectively, for the total (10.15, 12.14, and 13.18), live born (9.70, 11.14, and 12.16), and weaned (8.92, 10.12, and 10.60) piglets. For sows of parity 3 to 6, litter sizes were not affected for treatment 1 to 3, respectively, for the total (11.82, 11.71, and 11.46), live born (10.82, 10.64, and 10.23), and weaned (8.65, 9.01, 8.79) piglets. Piglet BW were affected (P < 0.001) by station and were associated with station differences (P < 0.05) in lactation length. Piglet BW decreased due to vitamin A treatment in parity 1 and 2 sows (linear, P 0.026) and was likely due to the differences observed in litter size. The results of this regional project demonstrated that injection of high doses of vitamin A in young sows at weaning and breeding improves the subsequent number of pigs born and weaned per litter, indicating that vitamin A requirements for maximal performance may vary with age.

Key Words: injection • litter size • reproductive performance • sow • vitamin A