Fig. 7
Effects of linoleic acid intake during lactation on (a) the farrowing rate and (b) total pigs born in the subsequent cycle of sows. In Fig. 7 (a), bars represent the percentage of sows that farrowed in the subsequent cycle relative to the number of weaned sows ± SEM (n = 82 to 83 sows per linoleic acid intake (g/d) group). In Fig. 7 (b), bars represent the number of pigs born alive and still-born pigs ± SEM (n = 70 sows per linoleic acid intake group). This analysis was performed using mature sows (parities 3 to 5) from 3 studies [31, 32, 48]. Linear and non-linear (quadratic, cubic) models were compared using goodness-of-fit tests. Minimum Bayesian information criterion (BIC), minimum root mean square error (RMSE), and maximum coefficient of determination (R2) techniques were used to select the best-fit model. Means represented by bars without a common letter are different (P < 0.05)