Effect of energy source fed to sows during late gestation on neonatal blood metabolite homeostasis, energy stores and composition

Four experiments utilizing 49 primiparous and 34 multiparous sows were conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding either starch, soybean oil or medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) during late gestation (d 100 to parturition) on neonatal fasting blood glucose homeostasis (Exp. 1 and 2), d-100 maternal circulating insulin, glucagon and glucose concentrations (Exp. 3 and 4), neonatal energy stores (Exp. 3 and 4) and colostrum composition (Exp. 1, 2, 3 and 4). In all cases, sows were fed 7.2 Mcal/d of a diet that supplied 279 g of protein daily. During fasting, pigs from MCT-fed dams had higher blood glucose concentrations (P less than .05) than pigs from starch-fed dams. No differences between treatments were observed for total carcass fat, liver glycogen or carcass glycogen of pigs killed prior to suckling. In general, colostrum fatty acid profiles were influenced by diet; however, the shifts in fatty acids differed for experiments. Starch-fed sows had higher blood insulin and lower blood glucagon (P less than .05) than lipid-supplemented sows; however, sow blood glucose remained constant across treatments. This study indicates that any positive effects of feeding soybean oil to sows during late gestation are most likely mediated by a change in fatty acid composition of colostrum; any beneficial properties of MCT feeding most likely are mediated through improved blood glucose maintenance of the neonate when it is subjected to fasting conditions.