ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different amounts of konjac flour (KF) inclusion in the gestation diet on the physio-chemical properties of diets, postprandial satiety in pregnant sows, lactation feed intake of sows and piglet performance during two successive reproductive cycles. Multiparous Landrace sows (n=140) were assigned randomly to one of four experimental diets, and four gestation diets were formulated to contain varying amounts of KF at 0%, 0.6%, 1.2% or 2.2%, respectively. The water binding capacity (WBC) (P<0.01), swelling capacity (P<0.01) of gestation diets, the concentration of total short chain fatty acids (P<0.05) after in vitro fermentation of gestation diets increased linearly with increasing inclusion amounts of KF. During the second reproductive cycle, increasing dietary KF linearly increased plasma concentrations of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) 4h postprandial (P<0.05) and glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) 2h postprandial (P<0.05), but decreased the plasma concentration of cortisol (linearly, P<0.05) 1h postprandial. In addition, there was a linear decrease of the non-feeding oral behavior of gestating sows (P<0.01) when dietary KF increased. There were linear increases in lactation feed intake of sows during entire lactation period (P<0.01) with increasing amounts of KF in the gestation diet. In addition, the number of piglets weaned (linearly, P<0.01; quadratic, P=0.01), average piglet weights and litter weights on day 21 of lactation (linearly, P<0.01) increased with increasing inclusion amounts of KF. In conclusion, inclusion of dietary fiber with great WBC, swelling capacity and fermentation capacity in the gestation diet was beneficial for enhancing postprandial satiety in pregnant sows, increasing lactation feed intake and improved number of piglets weaned per litter through greater pre-weaning survival.
