Reproductive Performance and Milk Composition of Sows Fed Diets Supplemented with an Immunomodulator

Abstract

A cooperative study involving 189 litters from 114 sows (initial BW of 200.8 ± 37.1 kg) at two experiment stations was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with OmniGen-AF (OG) (Phibro Animal Health Co., Teaneck, NJ, USA), a nutritional product formulated to improve immune function of animals, on sow reproductive performance and milk composition. Dietary treatments were (1) corn–soybean meal-based control diets or (2) control diets supplemented with OG at 0.75% (~9 g of OG/100 kg BW/d). Supplementation of diets with OG resulted in lesser (p < 0.05) BW changes of sows during lactation (−12.1 vs. −8.2 kg). Litter sizes for control and OG-fed sows were similar, but sows fed OG-based diets had greater (p < 0.05) litter weight for total born (18.3 vs. 19.3 kg) and weaned (63.2 vs. 67.0 kg) and lactation litter gain (47.8 vs. 50.7 kg). Lactation feed intake for the controls and OG-fed sows (5.32 vs. 5.52 kg/d, respectively) did not differ. Supplementing diets with OG increased lactose content (5.78 vs. 5.84%; p = 0.05) and reduced protein content (4.77 vs. 4.68%; p = 0.04) in sow milk. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with OG at 0.75% reduced weight loss during lactation and improved litter weights with marginal effects on the milk composition of sows.