Recent studies have shown how supplementing L-Arginine in the early stages of gestation, favors: embryos’ survival, the number of births and the weight at weaning.
Effect of L-arginine supplementation in pregnant sows
Modern genetic sow lines are characterized by high prolificacy. However, this is detrimental to the litter’s homogeneity, presenting a high percentage of piglets with low birth weight (<1kg).
Prolificacy has a positive correlation with morbidity and mortality rates during the birth-weaning period. In addition, hyperprolific sows often have problems regarding colostrum and milk production, affecting its quantity and quality.
Adequate vasculogenesis and angiogenesis are necessary in piglets’ fetal development to ensure blood circulation of the placenta. This is essential for the proper development of fetuses as well as for a reduction in embryonic mortality rates
Sexually mature sows gestate a relatively low number of piglets (approximately 8.5 piglets per litter) when fed diets without Arginine. This is due to their ability to synthesize the necessary amounts of this amino acid.
However, this endogenous synthesis can be modified in hyperprolific sows.
Recent studies have shown how supplementing L-Arginine in the early stages of gestation, favors: embryos’ survival, the number of births and the weight at weaning.
In turn, the addition of L-Arginine in the final stages of gestation reduces the percentage of stillborn and underweight piglets (Nuntapaitoon et al. 2018).
On the other hand, arginine is a precursor of numerous physiological processes such as lipid metabolism in gestation and the production of polyamines and nitrous oxide which are necessary in placental angiogenesis.
It has been hypothesized that arginine can modify the intestinal microbial profile, as observed in mice supplemented with this amino acid (Ren et al. 2014).
It is increasingly evident that the intestinal microbiota is capable of modulating the physiological development and health status of sows, preventing colonization by pathogenic bacteria in piglets.
However, whether arginine supplementation in gestation diets has an impact on the composition of the sow’s microbial flora and therefore on the first days of piglets’ lives, remains unknown.
Objective
The objective of the following study was to verify the efficacy of diets enriched with arginine. Evaluating its influence on:
Materials and methods
The trial was conducted at a commercial farm located in Italy. 205 Landrace Large White bristles were used.
The experiment was carried out using a 2×5 factorial design, in which there were 2 diets and 5 sow classes. The sows were divided into two experimental groups, balanced by the number of piglets:
Results
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