Effects Of Compound Plant Extracts Added To Diet On Sow Performance

Objective: To study the effect of compound plant extracts of Astragalus membranaceus,Lonicara confusa DC and Scutellaria baicalensis on sow performance during late pregnancy and lactation period.Methods: 36 binary sows with similar parity,weight and backfat were selected.According to a completely randomized block design,the test pigs were divided into 3 groups,each with 12 replicates,and 1 sow per replicate.The control group was fed with basal diet,T1(T1)was supplemented with 500g/t compound plant extracts(Astragalus extract,Lonicara confusa extract,Scutellaria extract)in the basal diet of sows during late pregnancy and lactation,and T2(T2)was supplemented with 1000g/t of compound plant extracts(Astragalus extract,Lonicera confusa extract,Scutellaria extract)in the basal diet of sows during late pregnancy and lactation.Test pigs were raised in single pens.The test period was from 90 days gestation to 21 days of lactation and weaning.Recorded the performance of sows,sow feed intake,sow backfat thickness,sow milk composition,sow plasma physiology and biochemistry,and piglet growth performance,etc.so as to investigate the effect of compound plant extracts on the growth performance of sows.Results: The inclusion of compound plant extracts in the sows’ late pregnancy and lactation diets improved the sow’s production performance.After adding compound plant extracts to the diet,compared with the control group,the birth process,average number of live piglets per litter,birth mortality,litter weight at birth,and average piglet weaning weight in the T1 and T2 had significant differences in effect(P<0.05),but the difference between T1 and T2 is not significant;The incidence of piglet diarrhea had been significantly improved,the difference was extremely significant(P<0.05),and the difference between T1 and T2 is not significant.The inclusion of compound plant extracts in the diet increased the feed intake of sows during the lactation period.Compared with the control group,the sows in T1 and T2 had a significant feed intake for 6-10 days of lactation and 1-21 days of lactation(P<0.05).Dietary supplementation of compound plant extracts improved sows’ constipation and weaning estrus rate.Compared with the control group,the constipation rate of sows in T1 and T2 was significantly reduced(P<0.05).The estrus rate at 14 days after weaning increased significantly(P<0.05),and the estrus rate of sows in the T2 was significantly higher than that in T1(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference in the constipation rate of sows and the estrus rate of sows at 14 days after weaning.The addition of compound plant extracts to the diet improved the quality of sow colostrum.Compared with the control group,the content of immunoglobulin and milk protein in sow colostrum of T1 and T2 was significantly increased(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference between T1 and T2.Conclusions: 1.Adding compound plant extracts to sows’ late pregnancy and lactation diets can improve sow’s production performance and suckling piglet’s growth performance;2.Adding compound plant extracts to sows’ late pregnancy and lactation diets can promote postpartum recovery;3.The optimal dosage of compound plant extracts in the diet of sows during late pregnancy and lactation is 500g/t.