EFFECTS OF ADDING MEDIUM-CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES TO SOW DIETS DURING LATE-GESTATION AND EARLY LACTATION ON LITTER PERFORMANCE

This experiment was conducted to determine whether feeding medium-chai n triglycerides (MCT) to sows during late gestation and early lactatio n would improve neonatal pig survival. Beginning on d 91 of gestation and continuing through d 7 of lactation, sows were fed isoenergetic (7 ,000 kcal of ME/d) and isonitrogenous (278 g of CP/d) amounts of eithe r control (19% starch, 2% soybean oil), long-chain triglycerides (LCT, soybean oil, 12%), or MCT (10% MCT, 2% soybean oil) diets. Sows (n = 18, 19, and 17, respectively) were induced to farrow on d 112 of gesta tion. Litters were weighed at birth, before suckling, and on d 1, 3, 7 , and 21 of lactation. There was no effect of treatment on average pig weight at any time and no difference in the number of live pigs at bi rth. Beginning on d 3 (P < .05) and continuing through weaning (d 21, P < .02) survival was improved in litters from sows fed MCT relative t o litters from sows fed the control diet. Overall survival rates were 80, 81, and 90% in control, LCT, and MCT groups, respectively. The gre atest improvement in survival was observed in pigs weighing < 900 g at birth. Survival of pigs in this weight range was 32, 53, and 68% in c ontrol, LCT, and MCT treatments, respectively. Although feeding MCT re sulted in an increase in content of medium-chain fatty acids in milk, these accounted for < 5% of the fatty acids in milk and likely cannot account for the improved survival rate. The observation of increased b lood glucose (P < .05) at birth in pigs from both the LCT- and MCT-fed sows is supportive of a prenatal effect of the diets. The results sug gest that MCT may provide a practical means to improve survival rates, particularly in herds with preweaning mortality > 15%.