Effect Of Different Levels Of Alfalfa Silage In Diet On Reproductive Performance Of Primiparous Sows

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of diets added with different levels of alfalfa silage on back-fat thickness,reproductive performance,milk composition,hormone indexes,immune indexes,antioxidation performance in primiparous sows and production performance,hormone indexes,immune indexes,antioxidation performance in their piglets.A total of 80 first farrowing gilts were divided into 4 groups,5 replicates per experimental group and 4 primiparous sows per replicate.Compared to the control group,significant differences were found on back-fat thickness gain in gestation for 10%AS group and 15%AS group and back-fat thickness loss in lactation for 15%AS group(P<0.05).Among 4 groups,no significant difference was found on total born and live-born,weak piglets and healthy piglets,rate of healthy piglets,litter weight at birth and average weight of newborn piglets(P>0.05).The litter weight of weaning of 15%AS group was the highest which was about 12.82% higher than control group with no significant differences(P>0.05).No significant differences was found on the content of E2,P,PRL and IGF-1 in the serum of sows of gestation,as the content of Ig A,Ig G,Ig M,T-SOD,T-AOC,GSH-Px and MDA was too(P>0.05).There was no significant difference on content of IGF-1,Ig A,Ig G and Ig M in the serum of piglets(P>0.05)while the content of TSOD and MDA of 10%AS group was extremely different to control group(P<0.01),and the content of T-AOC of 5%AS group was significantly higher than control group(P<0.05).We also found that the back-fat thickness before parturition and after weaning of 10%AS group was very close while 15%AS group had the same tendency.As the level of alfalfa silage increased,the content of milk fat in colostrum was decreased while the content of milk protein was increased,and the content of milk fat in 15%AS group was extremely lower than control group(P<0.01)while the content of milk protein in 10%AS group was significantly higher than 15%AS group(P<0.05).The evenness degree of newborn piglets and weaned piglets of 10%AS group and 15%AS group were better than other groups.The content of PRL of sows in lactation of 15%AS group was significantly lower than control group while the content of E2 of sows in lactation of 15%AS group was significantly higher than it(P<0.05).The content of Ig A of sows on day 30 in gestation of 15%AS group was significantly higher than control group(P<0.05),and the content of T-AOC of sows on day 30 in gestation of 15%AS group had the same tendency.And the content of GSH-Px of sows on day 30 in gestation of 10%AS group was significantly higher than control group(P<0.05).In a total,to achieve a better performance in sows and piglets,10% alfalfa silage as a supplementation was a better choice.