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. 2019 Aug 22:10:76.
doi: 10.1186/s40104-019-0373-2. eCollection 2019.

Different dietary methionine to lysine ratios in the lactation diet: effects on the performance of sows and their offspring and methionine metabolism in lactating sows

Hongkui Wei  1 , Xichen Zhao  1   2 , Mao Xia  1 , Chengquan Tan  2 , Jun Gao  3 , John K Htoo  4 , Chuanhui Xu  1 , Jian Peng  1   5
Affiliations

Different dietary methionine to lysine ratios in the lactation diet: effects on the performance of sows and their offspring and methionine metabolism in lactating sows

Hongkui Wei et al. J Anim Sci Biotechnol. .

Abstract

Background: Over the last decade, the nutritional requirements of lactating modern genotype sows have increased. The current nutritional recommendations might be unable to meet the needs of increased litter size and milk production, and thus the nutritional requirements need to be re-evaluated. The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary methionine to lysine (Met:Lys) ratios on the performance of and methionine metabolism in lactating sows.

Results: During the 1st week of lactation, piglets reared on sows in the 0.37 to 0.57 Met:Lys ratio groups grew faster than those reared on sows in the control group (0.27) (P < 0.01). The 0.37-ratio group showed increased levels of GSH-Px in plasma during lactation (P < 0.01) and decreased concentrations of urea nitrogen in the plasma of sows (P < 0.05). Compared with the 0.27-ratio group, the levels of T-AOC and GSH-Px in the plasma and homocysteine in the milk of lactating sows were significantly increased in sows in the 0.47-ratio group (P < 0.01). In sows fed a 0.57-ratio diet, the levels of glutathione and taurine in the plasma and milk were improved significantly during lactation. However, the content of TBARS in the blood (P < 0.05 at day 7 and P = 0.06 at weaning day) was increased (P < 0.01). Moreover, there were linear increases in the levels of homocysteine in the blood and milk of sows during the lactation period (P < 0.01) with increased dietary Met:Lys ratios in the lactation diet.

Conclusions: The current study indicated that increasing the dietary Met:Lys ratio (0.37~0.57) in the lactation diet had no significant effect on the overall performance of sows or the colostrum and milk composition, but it increased piglet mean BW and piglet ADG during the first week of lactation. Increasing dietary methionine levels had no significant effect on antioxidant function in lactation sows, even though it increased levels of GSH and GSH-Px in the plasma of sows during lactation. However, the content of homocysteine in the plasma and milk increased during lactation due to a high level of dietary methionine.

Keywords: Lactation; Met to Lys ratios; Methionine; Oxidative stress; Piglet growth performance; Sow performance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dietary effect on the concentration of urea nitrogen in plasma. Blood samples were collected from the ear vein of sows at the morning feeding and 2 h later. Data are presented as the means±SEM, n ≥ 10/lactation diet. a-bMeans in the same row with different letters differ significantly, P < 0.05
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The trend change in homocysteine (Hcy) in plasma along with the lactation process. Blood samples were collected from the ear vein of sows at the morning feeding and 2 h later. Data are presented as the means±SEM, n ≥ 11/lactation diet. A-CMeans in the same row with different letters differ significantly, P < 0.01
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