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This study was performed to evaluate the effects of dietary vitamin levels on physiological responses, blood profiles, and reproductive performance in gestating sows. A total of 52 F1 multiparous sows (Yorkshire × Landrace) with an average body weight of 223.5 ± 31.7 kg, an average parity of 6.4 ± 2.7, and an average backfat thickness of 18.5 ± 4.9 mm were divided into four treatment groups considering body weight, backfat thickness, and parity in a completely randomized design with 13 replicates. The treatments were 100% (V1), 300% (V3), 600% (V6) and 900% (V9) of the National Research Council (NRC) Nutrient Requirements of Swine. The gestation diet was formulated based on corn-soybean meal (SBM) and contained 3,265 kcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg and 12.00% crude protein. During the lactation period, all sows were fed the same commercial lactation diet. There was no significant difference in body weight of gestating sows. However backfat thickness tended to increase when higher levels of vitamins were provided to gestating sows (p < 0.10). When high levels of dietary vitamins were provided, the body weight change of lactating sows increased (p < 0.01). When sows were fed higher levels of vitamins, the feed intake of lactating sows tended to decrease (p = 0.06). There were no treatment differences in the number of total born, born alive, stillbirth piglets, or the body weight of piglets according to different dietary vitamin level. As dietary vitamin level increased, the serum concentration of 25(OH)D3 in sows at 90 days of gestation linearly increased (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the serum vitamin E level of gestating sows was linearly increased with increasing dietary vitamin level (p < 0.05). The current NRC vitamin requirements are sufficient for gestating sows and higher levels of vitamins in the gestation diet did not show any beneficial effects for gestating and lactating sows.

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary energy and crude protein (CP) levels on reproductive performance, litter performance, milk quality, and blood profiles in gestating sows. A total of 59 multiparous sows (Yorkshire × Landrace) with similar body weights (BW), backfat thickness (BF), and parity were assigned to one of six treatments with 9 or 10 sows per treatment using a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement and completely randomized design. The first factor was two levels of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) density (13.40 or 13.82 MJ/kg) and the second factor was three dietary protein levels based from 35 day in gestating phases (10.5%, 12%, and 13.5%). Backfat thickness change in lactating sows decreased linearly as CP level increased (p = 0.03). Increased energy level in the gestating sow diet tended to increase the total number of piglets born (p = 0.07), but piglet weight decreased (p = 0.02). Dietary CP level had a negative effect on colostrum quality. Casein, protein, total solid, and solids-not-fat concentrations decreased linearly and lactose level increased linearly as CP level in the gestating sow diet increased (casein%: p = 0.03; protein%: p = 0.04; lactose%: p = 0.06; total solids: p = 0.03; solid-not-fat: p = 0.03, respectively). However, improving ME by 0.42 MJ/kg had no significant effect on the chemical composition of sow colostrum. There were no significant differences in blood glucose concentration in gestating sows when sows were fed different levels of energy during gestation, but blood glucose increased at 21 day of lactation when energy increased by 0.42 MJ/kg (p = 0.04). Blood urea nitrogen concentration increased linearly when dietary CP levels increased at 110 day in gestation, 24-hours postpartum, and 21 days of lactation (linear, p < 0.05, p < 0.05, and p < 0.05, respectively), and it also increased when dietary energy increased at 110 days of gestation and 24-hours postpartum (p < 0.01, and p < 0.01, respectively). A gestating sow diet containing 13.82 MJ/kg ME and 10.5% CP can improve reproductive performance, litter performance, and colostrum quality.

The supplementation level of barley was limited because of high contents of fiber in monogastric animals. Barley contained high soluble fiber, thus it could prevent to diarrhea of weaning pigs. Moreover, as the barley break down by enzymes, free sugars come out from the barley, which could be used as an energy source in weaning pigs and replace milk by-products in weaning pig’s diet. Therefore, present study was conducted to investigate the influence of barley to replace milk by-product in weaning pig’s diet on growth performance, blood profile, nutrient digestibility, diarrhea incidence, and economic analysis in weaning pigs. A total of 112 crossbred ([York-shire × Landrace] × Duroc, weaned at 28 days of age) piglets were allotted to 4 treatments in a randomized complete block (RCB) design. Each treatment has 7 replications with 4 pigs per pen. Pigs were fed each treatment diet which containing different levels of barley (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) at the expense of whey powder and lactose. Three phase feeding programs were used for 6 weeks of growth trial (phase 1: 0–2 weeks; phase 2: 3–4 weeks; phase 3: 5–6 weeks). During 0–2 week, body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG) and G:F ratio were decreased as barley level increased in the diet (linear response, p < 0.01). In blood profile, blood urea nitrogen was decreased as the barley level increased in the diet (linear, p < 0.01). However, no significant differences were observed in blood glucose level. In nutrient digestibility, crude fat digestibility was linearly increased as barley increased (linear, p < 0.01). The incidence of diarrhea was improved as increasing barley contents in all phases (linear, p < 0.01). These results demonstrated that supplementation of barley to replace milk by-product influenced negatively on growth performance during 0–2 week. However, the incidence of diarrhea and later growth performance from 3 week postweaning were improved as dietary barley level increased.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of L-arginine supplementation levels during late gestation on reproductive performance and piglet uniformity in high prolific sows. A total of 60 F1 multiparous sows (Yorkshire &times, Landrace), with an average body weight of 238.2 kg, were allotted to one of three treatment groups in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were divided by the supplementation level of arginine during the late-gestation period, from day 70 to farrowing, as follows&mdash, (1) CON: corn-soybean meal-based basal diet (Arg 0.72%), (2) Arg10: basal diet + L-Arg 0.28% (Arg 1.0%), and (3) Arg15: basal diet + L-Arg 0.79% (Arg 1.5%). The same lactation diet was provided ad libitum to sows during the lactation period. There were no significant differences in body weight and backfat thickness in sows during late-gestation and lactation. Dietary arginine levels had no significant influences on the number of total born, stillbirth, and born alive. However, increasing inclusion level of L-arginine supplementation tended to increase (p &lt, 0.10) alive litter weight linearly, and also linearly increased (p &lt, 0.05) the piglet weight gain and litter weight gain during the lactation period. In piglet uniformity, the standard deviation of piglet birth weight (p &lt, 0.05) and the coefficient of variation for piglet birth weight (p &lt, 0.10) increased linearly, as dietary arginine levels increased in the late gestation period. Increasing L-arginine supplementation to late gestating sows linearly increased (p &lt, 0.05) the blood concentrations of arginine and ornithine at day 90 and day 110 of gestation. On the other hand, dietary arginine levels in late gestation did not affect the blood parameters related to the nitrogen utilization. Increasing dietary arginine levels for the late gestating sows did not affect the milk composition for colostrum and milk at day 21 of lactation. In conclusion, the inclusion level of arginine in the diet for late gestating sows, by up to 1.5%, could improve the alive litter weight at birth and litter weight gain during lactation, whereas the piglet uniformity at birth was decreased due to the increase of survival for fetuses with light birth weight.

Background To reduce use of main feed ingredient like corn, soy bean meal (SBM) and wheat, alternative ingredients has been studied like copra meal (CM). Production amount of CM which has been high makes CM to be an alternative feed stuff. However, low digestibility on AA and low energy content by high fiber content can be an obstacle for using CM. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of CM supplementation with β-mannanase on growth performance, blood profile, nutrient digestibility, pork quality and economic analysis in growing-finishing pigs. Methods A total of 100 growing pigs ([Yorkshire × Landrace] × Duroc) averaging 31.22 ± 2.04 kg body weight were allotted to 5 different treatments by weight and sex in a randomized complete block (RCB) design in 5 replicate with 4 pigs per pen. Treatments were 1) Control (corn-SBM based diet + 0.1% of β-mannanase (800 IU)), 2) CM10 (10% copra meal + 0.1% β-mannanase (800 IU)), 3) CM15 (15% copra meal + 0.1% β-mannanase (800 IU)), 4) CM20 (20% copra meal + 0.1% β-mannanase (800 IU)) and 5) CM25 (25% copra meal + 0.1% β-mannanase (800 IU)). Four phase feeding program was used: growing I (week 1–3), growing II (week 4–6), finishing I (week 7–9) and finishing II (week 10–12). Results In growth performance, there was no significant difference among treatments during whole experimental period. In growingI phase, G:F ratio tended to increase when CM was increased (P = 0.05), but ADG and ADFI tended to decrease in finishingII phase (linear, P = 0.08). Also, increasing CM reduced ADG (linear, P = 0.02) and feed efficiency (linear, P = 0.08) during the whole finishing period. In blood profiles, BUN was linearly increased as CM increased (linear, P = 0.02) at growingII period. In digestibility trial, there was no significant difference in dry matter, crude fat, crude ash and nitrogen digestibility. However, crude protein digestibility was decreased linearly (linear, P = 0.02). In economic analysis, feed cost per weight gain and total feed cost per pig were reduced in overall period when CM was provided by 25% (linear, P = 0.02). Conclusion CM with 0.1% of β-mannanase (800 IU) could be supplemented instead of corn and SBM up to 25% without detrimental effects on growth performance and pork quality of growing-finishing pigs.

Although growth rate is one of the main economic traits of concern in pig production, there is limited knowledge on its epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation. In this study, we conducted methyl-CpG binding domain protein-enriched genome sequencing (MBD-seq) to compare genome-wide DNA methylation profile of small intestine and liver tissue between fast- and slow-growing weaning piglets. The genome-wide methylation pattern between the two different growing groups showed similar proportion of CpG (regions of DNA where a cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide in the linear sequence) coverage, genomic regions, and gene regions. Differentially methylated regions and genes were also identified for downstream analysis. In canonical pathway analysis using differentially methylated genes, pathways (triacylglycerol pathway, some cell cycle related pathways, and insulin receptor signaling pathway) expected to be related to growth rate were enriched in the two organ tissues. Differentially methylated genes were also organized in gene networks related to the cellular development, growth, and carbohydrate metabolism. Even though further study is required, the result of this study may contribute to the understanding of epigenetic regulation in pig growth.