Effects of a blend of organic acids on the Performance, Blood Parameters and Microbiome composition of Mixed-parity High-Prolific Sows during Gestation and Lactation in a Tropical Humid Climate
Sows, microbiome, feed additives, organic acids
Proper sow nutrition during the animal’s whole productive life will not only help guarantee greater longevity but also ensure more uniform litters with more viable piglets, higher piglet birth weights and improved vitality during lactation and post-weaning. The establishment of a beneficial bacteria population at birth may lead to healthier piglets, which can be most effectively achieved by treating sows, providing an amplification step and enhance the neonatal pigs' environment with desirable bacterial strains. In addition, this may be sufficient to provide a supportive, protective microbiota around the time of weaning. In this sense, the use of Activate DA® (blend of organic acids) could improve gut health and lactation efficiency of heat stressed sows and therefore allows piglets to benefit at weaning by improving vitality, survival rates and performance. Therefore, a novel approach would be to investigate the impacts of the use of the concept during both gestation and lactation and their possible outcomes on sow and litter performance and the potentiality to modulate positively the microbiome of these animals.