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Table 1 Concentrations of amino acids (AAs) and metabolites in maternal plasma and reproductive performance of gestating gilts fed diets supplemented with 10–16% crude protein (CP)1

From: Fetal and neonatal programming of postnatal growth and feed efficiency in swine

Variable

10% CP

12% CP

14% CP

16% CP

Pooled SEM

Concentrations of AAs and metabolites in maternal plasma

 Arginine, μmol/L

189d

204c

221b

238a

3.5

 Cystine + cysteine, μmol/L

234d

268c

291b

314a

4.2

 Glutamate, μmol/L

85

89

92

94

2.6

 Glutamine, μmol/L

352d

378c

395b

417a

5.4

 Glycine, μmol/L

608d

631c

662b

698a

7.3

 Leucine, μmol/L

144d

162c

189b

208a

4.0

 Lysine, μmol/L

112d

131c

150b

174a

2.8

 Methionine, μmol/L

36d

43c

55b

62a

1.5

 Ornithine, μmol/L

64d

78c

92b

116a

2.4

 Proline, μmol/L

240d

276c

304b

345a

5.6

 Serine, μmol/L

146d

163c

185b

207a

2.9

 Tryptophan, μmol/L

41d

53c

64b

77a

1.1

 Ammonia, μmol/L

56d

70c

81b

93a

1.7

 Urea, mmol/L

1.67d

2.02c

2.46b

2.88a

0.061

Reproductive performance of gilts

 Total piglets born per litter, n

10.72

10.98

10.83

10.76

0.089

 Total piglets born alive per litter, n

9.62bc

9.95a

9.74b

9.48c

0.067

 Average birth weight of all piglets born, kg

1.33

1.36

1.35

1.34

0.012

 Average birth weight of all piglets born alive, kg

1.34

1.37

1.36

1.35

0.011

 Total litter weight at birth for all piglets born, kg

14.2b

14.8a

14.5ab

14.3b

0.14

 Total litter weight at birth for all live piglets, kg

12.7c

13.5a

13.1b

12.6c

0.11

 Piglets born dead per litter, n

1.10b

1.03b

1.09b

1.28a

0.048

 Variations in birth weights among all piglets born,2%

18.3a

17.1b

18.1a

18.7a

0.30

 Variation in birth weights among all piglets born alive,2%

16.1a

15.0b

16.4a

16.8a

0.28

Survival and growth of live-born piglets before weaning

 Milk intake of sow-reared piglets,3 mL/kg BW per day

179

184

186

180

7.4

 Total piglets weaned per litter, n

8.46c

9.04a

8.76b

8.53c

0.053

 Total litter weight at weaning (21 days of age), kg

45.2c

49.0a

47.3b

46.0c

0.36

  1. 1Data are means with pooled SEM, from the authors’ own work. There were 30 gilts per treatment group. During the entire gestation, each gilt (Yorkshire × Landrace dams and Duroc × Hampshire sire) was fed 2 kg/d of a corn- and soybean meal-based diet [130] in two equal meals at 0700 and 1800 h. The four gestation diets contained different CP content by varying the ratios of corn grain to soybean meal, and were made isocaloric (12.9 MJ/kg) with an appropriate addition of cornstarch. The body weight of gilts at breeding was 116 ± 0.9 kg, n = 120). Blood samples (~0.1 mL) were obtained from the ear vein of each gilt at d 110 of gestation at 2 h after feeding for analysis of metabolites in plasma [131]. Duration of gestation did not differ (P > 0.05) among the four groups of (114 ± 0.1 d, n = 120). During the entire lactation period, all sows had free access to the same corn- and soybean meal-based diet containing 18.2% CP [132]
  2. 2Coefficient of variation (SD/mean × 100%)
  3. 3On d 21 of lactation, milk consumption by piglets was determined by using the weigh-suckle-weigh technique [133]
  4. a-dWithin a row, means not sharing the same superscript letters differ (P < 0.05), as analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and the Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparison [134]