Effect of betaine supplementation during summer on sow lactation performance and subsequent farrowing performance

Abstract Text: The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effects of betaine supplementation during lactation in hot summer months on piglet growth and sow subsequent reproductive performance. The betaine feeding portion of the trial was conducted between December, 2014 and March, 2015 with subsequent litter data completed by July, 2015 in Rancagua, Chile. Dietary treatments were randomly allotted to concurrent farrowing rooms of sows. Sows were fed corn-soybean meal based diets supplemented with either 0% (n = 267, CON) or 0.3% of betaine-HCl (70.7% betaine, n= 251 sows, BET), from 2 days before their farrowing due date until weaning (avg. lactation length = 21.0 days). Betaine supplemented sows had a 2.96% greater average daily feed intake (ADFI) during lactation than control sows (P = 0.009). Treatment by parity interactions were significant for ADFI and bodyweight (BW) loss (P = 0.004 and P = 0.046, respectively). Parity 2 BET supplemented sows had greater ADFI (6.40 versus 6.13 kg/d) and 5.13 kg less BW loss than parity 2 CON sows (P < 0.001 and P = 0.024, respectively). The analysis of lactation ADFI for four lactation periods (1-5, 6-11, 12-16 and 17-21 days) indicated that ADFI was greater for BET sows from 6-11 days (6.57 versus 6.27 kg/d, P < 0.001), 12-16 days (7.19 versus 6.94 kg/d, P = 0.006), and 17-21 days (7.49 versus 7.27 kg/d, P = 0.024). After the addition of piglets allowed to nurse as a linear covariate (P < 0.001), CON and BET sows had similar litter gain of 52.76 and 51.85 kg, respectively (P = 0.35). Wean to estrus intervals (WEI) were shorter for BET supplemented sows than CON sows (4.22 versus 4.57 days, respectively; P = 0.001). There were shifts in the distribution of WEI between sows fed CON and BET supplemented diets (P = 0.035) with 2.0, 28.7, 11.4, 4.6 and 1.8% of the CON sows versus 3.6, 33.0, 10.7, 1.5 and 1.0% of the BET sows with WEI of  3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 d. No treatment differences were found for subsequent conception rate (CON: 96.38 versus BET: 94.84%, P = 0.43) and farrowing rate (CON: 90.95 versus BET: 90.61%, P = 0.90). No treatment differences were found for subsequent litter size (total born, born alive, P > 0.25). Betaine supplementation increased daily feed intake and reduced WEI during summer months in sows. 

Keywords: sow, lactation, betaine, wean to estrus interval, feed intake