Effects of Frequency and Time of Feeding during Gestation on Sow and Litter Performance

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of feeding frequency and time given similar quantity of feed per kilogram BW^0.75 during gestation on sow and subsequent litter performance. One hundred and thirteen sows [(Landrace X Yorkshire); initial BW 208.75±4.14 kg; parity 3.90±0.58; backfat (BF) 12.88±0.72 mm)] were blocked by BW, BF and farrowing date and randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments in a randomized complete block design. Gestating sows were provided a common corn-soybean meal-based diet once [0730 (Control, T1), 1130 (T2), or 1530 h (T3)], twice [half ration at 0730 and 1530 h (T4)], or thrice [one third portion at 0730, 1130, and 1530 h (T5)]. On average, sows were given 6834, 7206, and 7531 kcal ME day^-1 during d 30 to 60, d 61 to 90 and d 91 to 109 of gestation respectively. The daily feed quantity during each period was calculated by multiplying the kilogram BW^0.75 of d 30, 60 and 90 by 1.25 ME_m (NRC, 2012), divided by kcal of ME/kg of diet. One common lactation diet was provided to the sows during lactation. The gestation diet was formulated to contain 3188 kcal of ME/kg, 0.75% Ca, 0.59% total P, 0.57% SID Lys, 0.24% SID Met, 0.46% SID Thr, 0.14% SID Trp, and 0.47% SID Met+Cys. BW and BF were recorded on d 30, 60, 90, and 109 of gestation, 24 hours after farrowing, and at weaning. The data were analyzed using MIXED procedure of SAS 9.4 with treatment as fixed effect and block as random effect. Statistical significance was set at P ≤ 0.05 while a trend was considered at 0.05 < P ≤ 0.10. Data were presented as least squares means ± SE. Thrice feeding during gestation tended to be associated with high mummified fetuses compared with the control (0.11±0.01 vs 0.48±0.01, P=0.06). Sows fed twice daily in gestation lost significant amount of backfat during lactation compared to the control (-0.34±0.41 vs -1.38±0.37 mm, P ≤ 0.04) but similar to sows fed thrice a day. Sows fed once at 1530 had tendency to have lower reduction in body weight change from d 109 post-insemination to 24hr postpartum relative to the control (-18.33±3.5 vs -9.83±3.1 kg, P=0.07) although they had similar litter size (12.28±0.84 vs 12.46±0.76, P>0.10) and average birth weight (1.45±0.05 vs 1.41±0.04 kg, P>0.10). In conclusion, feeding gestating sows more than once a day in small allotments, did not influence sow reproductive performance.