IMPROVED PROGENY PERFORMANCE AND MUSCLE FIBER DIAMETER WITH THE UTILIZATION OF RACTOPAMINE AND ARGININE FOR SOWS

The aim of this work was to verify the effect of 20 ppm of ractopamine (Rac), 1% of L-arginine (Arg), and the association of both (Rac+Arg) fed for sows during days 25 to 53 of gestation, evaluating the progeny performance and its muscle fiber characteristics. Ractopamine was able to increase the birth weight of piglets (P<0.05), however the association with arginine increase the stillbirth. Arg, Rac, and Arg+Rac lead to an increased muscle fiber diameter of the semitendinosus muscle of the piglets. These results shows that Arg and Rac are promising technologies to be used for sows nutrition, foremost to a better progeny