Rm. Neto et al., Effect of breed, diet, period and lactation numbers on immunoglobulin G concentration in swine colostrum, PESQ AGROP, 36(10), 2001, pp. 1295-1299
The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of breed, d
iet, period of the year and lactation numbers on the concentration of immun
oglobulin G (IgG) in sows colostrum. IgG concentration was determined in co
lostrum of 60 sows (33 Large White and 27 Landrace) submitted to four diffe
rent diets with 0%, 7%, 14% and 21 % of dried yeast. Dried yeast from alcoh
ol of sugar cane industry (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was used as substitute
for com and soybean mill keeping the level of crude protein at 14%. IgG co
ncentration in the colostrum was not affected by breed and diet. Higher con
centration of IgG was found in colostrum of sows farrowing occurred between
May and October (P <0.05). Quadratic (P <0.10) and cubic (P <0.01) effects
of parturition order on IgG concentration were detected. Females from firs
t parturition had lower concentration (P <0.05) of IgG (49.98 +/- 7.9 mg/mL
) compared to females from second (92.70 +/-5.9 mg/mL), third (70.72 +/-5.6
mg/mL) and fourth (85.56 +/-9.0 mg/mL) parturition, demonstrating that ani
mals with more immunological experience have higher concentrations of IgG i
n the colostrum.