Maternal dietary energy rather than lysine intake during late gestation positivelyinfluences piglet birth weight

摘要

Increasing the feed allowance in late gestation for gilts and sows is known as 'bump feeding'. However, the effect of bump feeding on piglet birth weight, particularly in herds of high prolificacy (> 14.5 total piglets born/sow), is unclear. Further,the relative contributions of dietary amino acids and energy on potential improvements in piglet birth weight remain unclear. Preliminary results (Goncalves et al. 2015) showed that compared to high-energy intake, low energy during late gestation significantly decreased body weight (BW) gain with a greater magnitude in sows than in gilts. Additionally, there was no difference between bump feeding and the control in the number of total piglets born or in total litter weight. The objective of the currentstudy was to evaluate the effects of lysine (Lys) and energy intake during late gestation on individual piglet birth weight and on subsequent reproductive performance of gilts and sows. It was hypothesised that both maternal dietary Lys and energy in the late gestation period would affect piglet birth weight.