Effects of Amaranthus hypochondriacus supplementation during gestation and lactation on the apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients, lactational feed intake, and litter performance in sows.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Amaranthus hypochondriacus (AH) inclusion in the diets of gestating and lactating sows on the lactational feed intake, nutrient digestibility, and growth performance of suckling piglets. During gestation, 40 multiparous Landrace sows were restrictively fed with either a control diet or a diet including 30% AH. Both diets had similar levels of digestible energy and crude protein, but the 30% AH diet had higher crude fibre levels than the control diet. After breeding, lactating sows were fed ad libitum with one of two isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets, either a control diet or a diet containing 10% AH. In gestating sows, AH supplementation was found to be associated with decreased digestibility of crude protein and dry matter (p < .001), resulting in lesser backfat depth (p < .001). However, in lactating sows, AH supplementation had little effect on digestibility and milk composition; moreover, it increased the feed intake (p < .001) and decreased backfat loss (p < .001) in sows. On the 21st day of lactation, suckling piglets in AH group showed significantly greater average daily gains (p < .001), and average body weight and litter weight significantly increased compared with sows fed the control diet. In conclusion, AH-supplementation increased lactational feed intake in sows and improved the growth performance of suckling piglets.

Effects of supplementing sow diets during late gestation with Pennisetum purpureum on antioxidant indices, immune parameters and faecal microbiota.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of adding Pennisetum purpureum (P. purpureum, also known as Napier grass or elephant grass) to the diets of late gestation on the antioxidant indexes, immune indexes and faecal microbiota of sows. At the 90 days of gestation, 300 healthy sows were randomly divided into three groups, and they received the basic commercial diet or added 5% P. purpureum and 10% P. purpureum, respectively. The experiment started from 90 days of gestation to parturition. The results showed that the total antioxidant capacity, immunoglobulins and serum equol concentrations of sows on 100 days of gestation and at parturition increased linearly (p < .05) with the increase of the content of P. purpureum in the gestation diet. The 5% P. purpureum increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes (p = .027) and Actinobacteria (p < .001) at phylum level, Coriobacteriaceae (p < .001) at family level and Prevotellaceae_UCG_001 (p = .004) at genus level, and decreased the relative abundance of Escherichia_Shigella (p < .001) at genus level. In summary, this study shows that the additive of P. purpureum can increase the concentration of serum equol, improve the antioxidant capacity and immune function of sow in late gestation. In addition, the additive of 5% P. purpureum in the diet might change the composition of intestinal microbiota of sows, particularly the relative abundance of Coriobacteriaceae (p < .001) increased.