in farrowing sows can affect the colostrum quality. INTRODUCTION. Tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) is the non-aqueous layer of tall oil, typically comprises 90% fatty ...
FACULTY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Dietary supplementation of tall oil fatty acid and resin acid in farrowing sows can affect the colostrum quality INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Tall oil fatty acid (TOFA) is the non-aqueous layer of tall oil, typically comprises 90% fatty acids and 10% resin acids. Fractional distillation of crude tall oil, obtained as a by-product of the Kraft process of wood pulp manufacture, produces distilled tall oil, further refinement of distilled tall oil produces TOFA. TOFA has been used in animal feed as an energy source because of its inexpensive source of fatty acids. TOFA modulated the microbial population in the digestive system of animal and changes the microbial metabolism and improve feed conversion ratio and gut immunity. The aims of this study was to examine whether TOFA added to a late pregnancy diet affected colostrum composition and yield (CY) in sows.
91 sows from two different herds were randomly allocated to two groups as follows: a negative control diet (n= 44) and the same diet supplemented with 5 g TOFA/kg (n=47) during the last week of pregnancy. The TOFA used was Progres® (Hankkija Oy/Suomen Rehu, Hyvinkää, Finland). Within the first 2 hours from the beginning of farrowing, a 20 ml colostrum sample was obtained to check for nutritional composition (protein, fat, lactose, dry matter, with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy - FTIR), and immunoglobulin content (IgA, IgM and IgG with ELISA analysis). All piglets were individually weighted at birth and 24 hours later in order to calculate CY.
RESULTS Colostrum content of protein, lactose and dry matter did not differ between the two groups, while TOFA fed sows had tendency in lower level of fat in colostrum (4.17 % vs 4.73 %; p = 0.09; Fig. 1). Colostrum Yield and IgA, IgM levels in colostrum did not differ between the two groups (Fig. 2 and 3). Colostrum IgG was 68.34 mg/ml in the control group and 81.71 mg/ml in the TOFA fed group (p < 0.05; Fig. 2).
COLOSTRUM IMMUNOGLOBULIN (MG/ML) * 81,71
COLOSTRUM COMPOSITION (%) 27,28 27,72
COLOSTRUM YIELD (G) 4383
68,34 16,99 16,85
Progres
*
4,17 4,73
Protein
Fat
4272
4,27 4,29
Lactose
10,42 11,08
DM
Figure 1. Colostrum composition analysed with FTIR. Asterisk indicates tendency (P = 0.09).
Progres Control
Control
Progres Control
IgG
IgA
4,76
4,36
IgM
Figure 2. Colostrum immunoglobulin content, analysed with ELISA. Asterisk indicates significant differences (P
