Body condition of gilts at the end of gestation affects their mammary development.

Farmer, C.; Duarte, C. R. A.; Vignola, M.; Palin, M.-F.

The impact of body condition at 110 d of gestation on mammary gland development, mammary gene expression, and hormonal and metabolite status of gilts was studied. Thirty-nine gilts were equally divided into 3 groups based on their backfat thickness at the end of gestation: 1) low backfat (LBF; 12-15 mm), 2) medium backfat (MBF; 17-19 mm), or 3) high backfat (HBF; 21-26 mm). Gilts had similar BW (138.1 ± 8.2 kg) and backfat thicknesses (16.4 ± 1.0 mm) at mating and the 3 groups were achieved via ingestion of varying amounts of feed throughout gestation. Jugular blood samples were obtained from all gilts at mating and at 109 d of gestation to assess hormonal and metabolic statuses, and animals were slaughtered on d 110 to collect mammary glands for compositional analyses and for measure of gene expression. The LBF gilts had less extraparenchymal tissue (P 0.10). There was a tendency for circulating leptin concentrations on d 109 of gestation to be lower in LBF gilts than in MBF gilts (P 0.10). Current results demonstrate that being too thin at the end of gestation (12-15 mm backfat) has a negative impact on mammary development in gilts, whereas having backfats varying from 17 to 26 mm seems to have no detrimental effects on mammogenesis. Backfat thickness in late pregnancy must therefore be considered to achieve optimal sow lactation performance.

SOWS; PREGNANCY in animals; DEVELOPMENT of mammary glands; GENE expression in mammals; ADIPOSE tissues; SWINE

Journal of Animal Science, 2016, Vol 94, Issue 5, p1897

0021-8812

Academic Journal

10.2527/jas.2016-0336