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Comparative effects of sodium butyrate and flavors on feed intake of lactating sows and growth performance of piglets
Author(s) -
Wang Jun,
Yang Mei,
Xu Shengyu,
Lin Yan,
Che Lianqiang,
Fang Zhengfeng,
Wu De
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.12193
Subject(s) - weaning , flavor , sodium butyrate , litter , lactation , zoology , creep feeding , biology , food science , pregnancy , biochemistry , genetics , agronomy , gene
We examined the effects of sodium butyrate and flavors on feed intake of lactating sows and growth performance of piglets. A total of 52 primiparous sows (Large White) were randomly divided into four treatments ( n = 13) and received 6 g/kg sodium butyrate ( SB ), fruit‐milk ( FM ) flavor and fruit‐milk‐anise ( FMA ) flavor with pair feeding to the mothers receiving the control diet. The feeding trial lasted for 29 days, including 21 days of nursing and 8 days of post‐weaning period, respectively. The nursing and weaning piglets received creep diets with the same flavor or SB supplement as their mother. The results showed that FMA flavor increased average daily feed intake ( ADFI ) of lactating sows ( P < 0.01), as well as improved litter weight gain ( P = 0.05) and ADFI ( P < 0.01) of nursing pigs among treatments. Indeed, greater ADFI and average daily gain of weaning piglets for the initial 8 days after weaning was observed in the FMA group compared with those in the control group ( P < 0.01). These findings indicated that adding FMA flavor was superior to SB for increasing feed intake of lactating sows and improving growth performance of piglets.