The Use of a Phytogenic Product to Improve Sows’ Lactation Performance

Abstract

A field trial was conducted to determine if the lactation diet supplemented with a selected phytogenic product (Biomin P.E.P‚) would improve sows’ lactation performance measuring in terms of average wean-to-first-service interval (WFS) and average daily litter weight gain (ADLWG). One hundred and twelve mixed-parity cross-bred sows were randomly allocated into either a control (n=55) or a treatment (n = 57) group. They were housed in the same barn under the same management regime throughout the trial. Sows received ad libitum feeding of lactation diets supplemented with either 2 kg/ton of Biomin P.E.P‚ (treatment) or nil (control). The lactation diet was broken-rice soybean mealbased diet containing 17 % of crude protein, 3,300 Kcal/kg of ME and 1.05 % of dietary lysine. During the 22.6 days of average lactation period, ADLWG of sows in treatment group was significantly improved by 0.117 kg/day (P= 0.0353) and WFS was insignificantly shorter (5.0 vs 6.1; P = 0.2263). In conclusion,
the Biomin P.E.P‚ supplemented lactation diet can enhance lactation performance in sows. The increased ADLWG combined with shorter WFS is believed to derive from the increased lactation feed intake.