C. W. Liao^1* , C. F. Liu ², S. F. Wu ¹, and T. M. Su ¹

¹ Livestock Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

² Southern Branch of Agriculture and Food Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

^* Corresponding author, E-mail: chungwen@mail.tlri.gov.tw

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation on reproductive performance of sows and litter performance. A total of 57 multiparous TLRI Black Pig No.1 (TBP) sows were used in this experiment. Pregnant sows were provided daily 150 ppm L-carnitine from day 91^th of pregnancy to farrowing and 250 ppm/d L-carnitine provided postfarrowing through weaning for each sow. The results showed that the backfat thickness of sows in L-carnitine fed group was significantly (P<0.05) reduced. There was no difference on lactation weight loss and feed intake. Sows fed L-carnitine increased (P<0.07) total pig born, live piglets and total litter weight. There was no difference on litter size at weaning, the nursing rate during lactation and weight gain during lactation for piglets between control or L-carnitine fed group. In conclusion, sows fed L-carnitine during gestation and lactation period did not benefit the reproductive efficiency and litter performance.

KEY WORDS: Sow, L-carnitine, Reproductive performance, litter performance.

INTRODUCTION

The 2 piglets difference between total piglets born and live piglets was observed for Taiwan Black Pig No.1 (Tsai et al, 2003). The variability on body weight of piglets and higher percentage of weak pig within a litter might account for the difference. L-carnitine is necessary for the transport of long chain fatty acid across the inner mitochondrial membrane, thereby facilitating the β-oxidation for the energy production (Borum, 1983). Musser et al. (1999) found that the dietary L-carnitine supplementation increased the live piglets. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation of sows on the reproductive and litter performance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 57 TBP multiparous sows were used in this experiment. Sows were raised in gestation crate. Feed were provided 1.8 kg/d for each sow. Water was provided ad libitum. From day 91^th of pregnancy to farrowing, sows were fed 150 ppm/d L-carnitine and 250 ppm/d L-carnitine were provided daily for each sow during the 30 days lactation period. Piglet was provided creep feed at 10 days of lactation. The composition of gestation and lactation diet were CP 13%, 15% and ME 3250, 3200 kcal/kg. Body weight gain of sow during lactation, backfat thickness of sow, litter size and body weight at birth and weaning of piglets were recorded for evaluating the effect of L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation on reproductive performance of sows and litter performance.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The effect of L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation period were shown at Table 1. The backfat thickness of sows in L-carnitine fed group was significantly (P < 0.07) reduced. There was no difference on lactation weight loss and feed intake for sows. This result was consistent with the work of Weber et al. (2000) which indicated that the supplementation of 50 ppm/d L-carnitine increased the backfat thickness loss of sow during lactation. Our result was inconsistent with Heo et al. (2000) which indicated that L-carnitine fed during lactation increased nitrogen retention and decreased nitrogen excretion and subsequently, improved the nutrient utilization. The effect of L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation was shown at Table 2. Sows provided with 150 ppm/d L-carnitine from day 91^th through farrowing and 250 ppm/d L-carnitine during lactation period increased (P < 0.07) total pig born, live piglets and total litter weight. The result was also found by Harmeyer (1993) which showed that sow provided with 50 ppm/d L-carnitine starting from 4 wks before farrowing increased the total piglets born. Fremaut et al (1993) indicated that sows provided daily with 250 ppm L-carnitine increased the total live piglets born. Cromwell et al. (1989) showed that increasing the gestation diet from 1.8 kg/d to 3.16 kg/d from 91^th of gestation to farrowing increased litter size at birth and litter weight. Liao et al. (2004) showed that increasing the feed level from 2.0 kg/d to 2.4 kg/d for sow between day 91^th of pregnancy to farrowing increased litter size, live piglets born. Those results concluded that increase of the nutrient provision during last stage of pregnancy could provide larger amount of nutrients, i.e. energy and amino acid for newborn piglets. This was beneficial to piglet viability and survivability. The biological function of L-carnitine was to transport long chain fatty acid to the inner mitochondrial membrane for further β-oxidation and provide energy for the piglets. Therefore, the L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation period could provide more energy to piglets. There was no difference on litter size at weaning, the nursing rate during lactation and weight gain during lactation for piglets between control or L-carnitine fed group. Nevertheless, the survival rate for newborn pigs or at weaning was lower for either control or L-carnitine fed group. Tsai et al. (2003) investigated the reproductive performance of TBP sow and found that the nursing rate for piglets at 3 wks of age reached 90 %. This discrepancy was probably that most of the TBP sows in our experiment was farrowed during hot season. The feed intake for sows in our experiment was lower than 3.0 kg/d, which was even lower than the 3.4 kg/d during hot season of the experiment of Liao et al. (2004). The feed intake of TBP sows during cool season in that experiment reached 4.4 kg/d. The extremely feed restriction for lactating sows in this experiment resulted in low nursing rate and survival rate for piglets even if the sows suffered from the large body fat catabolism. In conclusion, the L-carnitine fed during gestation and lactation period for TLRI Black Pig No.1 did not benefit the reproductive and litter performance.

REFERENCE

Borum, P. R. 1983. Carnitine. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 3:233-259.

Cromwell., G. L. D. D. Hall, G. E. Comb, O. M. Hale, D. L.Handlin, J. P.Hitchcock, D. A. Knabe, E.T. Korneagy, M. D. Lindlemann, C.V. Maxwell and T. J. Prince. 1989. Effects of feed intake during gestation on the reproductive performance of sow. J. Anim. Sci. 67:3-14.

Fremaut, D., G. de Raeymaecker, J. Latre, and J. Aerts. 1993. Do lactating sows benefit from L-carnitine supplementation? Feed Additive News, Lonza, Inc, Fair Lawn, NJ. pp. 20-23.

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Heo, K., J. Odle, I. K. Han, W. Cho, S. Seo, E. V. Heugten, and D. H. Pilkington. 2000. Dietary L-carnitine improves nitrogen utilization in growing pigs fed low energy, fat-containing diets. J. Nutr. 130:1809-1814.

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