Increasing vitamin D intake for enhanced sow performance
By Brian Fisker, Rene Bonekamp & Antoine Meuter, DSM Nutritional Products Animal Nutrition and Health
Swine are more profitable when sows and gilts produce more healthy piglets over their lifetime.
In recent years, the number of additives available on the market has increased and, as a result, swine farmers have a growing number of nutritional options available to them, to help maximize animal productivity and profitability by making the most of the animal’s genetic potential. One particular additive that is receiving growing interest is vitamin
D3. Although typically used to support skeletal strength and bone health, the latest research shows that enhanced vitamin D3 nutrition can also positively influence sow performance and lifetime output. For example, not only do increased levels lead to longer lives, but several studies also demonstrate an increased number of heavier and weaned piglets per litter in sows which are receiving optimized nutrition. As a result, farmers are beginning to recognize vitamin D3 as a broader solution to ensure breeding sows achieve their full potential and increased financial return.
Measuring profitability in swine Previous studies indicate that low-birthweight piglets exhibit poorer growth performance, decreased productivity and higher mortality pre-weaning – a major cause of profit loss in pig production – whereas piglets born with higher birth weights are more likely to experience better performance and decreased mortality. To achieve better profitability, farmers must therefore keep sows in the herd for more parities so that they produce more piglets over their lifetime, and also ensure sows produce larger litters of healthy piglets with high birth and weaning weights. To accomplish optimum genetic potential and produce the
healthiest piglets possible, sows require more and better-quality nutrition including vitamin D3 supplementation. However, adding vitamin D3, a non-bioactive vitamin, directly to feed presents multiple challenges. That is because it must be metabolized to its functional form to become active in the body and have the desired effect. In a first step, vitamin D3 is broken down to 25(OH)D3 in the liver. The final compound, 1,25(OH)2D3, or calcitriol, is then formed in the kidneys. In many hyper-prolific sows however, the first metabolic step tends to be skipped, meaning vitamin D3 is not always fully transformed to its bioactive form, which decreases the amount of effective vitamin available to the animal, and could lead to leg problems, as a result of lower bone mineralization, less foetal muscle development and decreased muscle contractions during birth. Consequently, farmers may observe lower herd performance and reduced profitability. As a result of these drawbacks, farmers are now looking to Hy-D
(or 25OHD3) – the bioactive metabolite of vitamin D3 – for increased vitamin nutrition, healthier piglets and better financial returns.
PAGE 28 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 FEED COMPOUNDER
Enhancing vitamin D3 availability To increase the amount of vitamin that is readily absorbed and utilized by the pig, swine farmers can add the active form of vitamin D3 to sow feed and therefore avoid the initial metabolic steps normally involved in the breakdown of the nutrient. SEGES – the Danish Pig Research Center, Denmark – recently conducted a study in a commercial herd of 650 sows/year, to determine whether adding 50mg/kg of Hy-D in sow feed (corresponding to 2,000 IU vitamin D3) during the entire gestation period would improve litter weaning weight compared to when standard levels of 800 IU per kg feed were added. Other key indicators of swine profitability where also evaluated including daily gain and mortality to assess whether Hy-D positively affected weaners born and raised by sows supplemented with the ingredient. The study found that Hy-D had the greatest effect in young sows. It also demonstrated that litter weight was significantly increased in
Graph 1: Litter weight at weaning in control and Hy-D groups. Largest increase seen in younger sows (1-2 parity)
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