Effects of dietary supplementation with 25-OH-D3 during gestation and lactation on reproduction, sow characteristics and piglet performance to weaning: 25-HYDROXYVITAMIN D3 IN SOWS

Abstract A total of 48 multiparous sows (Landrace x Yorkshire) were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 dietary treatments with 24 replicates per treatment based on initial body weight and body condition score. The dietary treatments consisted of corn/soybean meal-based diet fortified with vitamin D3 (2000 IU/kg diet) in vitamin premix as a control diet (CON) and CON diet supplemented with 50 μg/kg diet 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OH-D3) (TRT). Diets were formulated to meet or exceed the nutrient requirements of sows ( National Research Council (2012) ) for both gestation and lactation periods. Results showed that the difference in body weight (BW) from initial to before farrowing and after farrowing to weaning, number of piglets born alive were higher (P