This article appeared in the August 2015 edition and is reproduced courtesy of

AN ASIAN AGRIBUSINESS MEDIA PUBLICATION

Feeding sows to get more piglets born alive

Chromium (Cr) supplementation to sow diets has been shown to improve the performance of sows and their progeny. CHINNADURAI

SUGUMAR, BRIAN KREMER and EDWIN CHOW* report on a trial where supplementation with chromium propionate in gestation and lactation feeds resulted in improved sow and piglet performance in

two consecutive reproductive cycles. The sows produced and weaned more piglets - key performance criteria for commercial swine herds.

Brian Kremer Edwin ChowChinnadurai Sugumar

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Introduction

KemTRACE™ Chromium from Kemin Industries contains organic chromium propionate, a highly bioavailable source of chromium, which is permitted for use in animal feed by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in United States.

Trivalent chromium is widely recognised as an essential nutrient for all animals and it has been demonstrated that performance can be improved with dietary chromium especially for swine. Significant benefits such as increased reproductive performance and increased loin muscle area have been observed in swine when feed is supplemented with chromium. There is convincing evidence that chromium in the trivalent state acts primarily by regulating the blood sugar level through optimising insulin function and glucose uptake by insulin-sensitive cells. Insulin is involved in functions of the reproductive process resulting in an increased litter size. In addition to glucose metabolism, chromium is also thought to be

Feeding sows to get more piglets born alive

Chromium (Cr) supplementation to sow diets has been shown to improve the performance of sows and their progeny. CHINNADURAI

SUGUMAR, BRIAN KREMER and EDWIN CHOW* report on a trial where supplementation with chromium propionate in gestation and lactation feeds resulted in improved sow and piglet performance in

two consecutive reproductive cycles. The sows produced and weaned more piglets - key performance criteria for commercial swine herds.

Brian Kremer Edwin ChowChinnadurai Sugumar

movement into the cell than in the absence of chromium.

The role of insulin in reproductive performance

The most likely explanation of chromium’s positive effect upon a complex phenomenon such as litter size is through the enhancement of insulin action. Insulin has been shown to have multiple effects on the reproductive function of swine. Ovulation rate in pigs can be increased by injecting insulin during the follicular phase; increasing feed intake resulting in an increased pancreatic insulin production and higher rate of ovulation. Insulin has also been shown to increase ovarian

Growth hormone Insulin growth factor

Insulin/Chromium

Glucose Anabolism

Protein synthesisGrowth of lean tissue,

Milk production, General maintenance, Immuno-competence

Figure 1: Proposed mode of action of chromium.

involved in the lipid, protein and nucleic acid metabolism as well as hormonal functions.

Proposed mode of action of chromium

Chromium has been known to improve the actions of insulin with regard to glucose homeostasis in swine. Glucose is used as an energy source for the protein, lipid and nucleic acid metabolism as depicted in Figure 1.

Role of chromium in glucose metabolism

Under normal conditions, insulin binds to the receptor triggering a sequence of events that result in the activation of protein Kinase B, and ultimately, on the mobilisation of Glut-4 vesicles to the cell membrane, which facilitate the transport of glucose into the cell as depicted in Figure 2. Interestingly, the presence of chromium potentiates the action of insulin in insulin-sensitive tissues, which results in a greater net glucose

Reproduced courtesy of – ASIAN PORK MAGAZINE – August 2015

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BrainLH release

OvaryOvulation rate and

progesterone

Chromium/Insulin

Litter sizeUterus

Eggs, pregnancy proteins, embryonic

survival

follicular development as well as increasing sensitivity of follicle to follicle-stimulating hormone.

In a 160-sow trial, daily injections of insulin during the first four days post-weaning were shown to result in a highly significant increase in litter size. Others researchers noted that the number of eggs ovulised and fertilised, embryo survival and uterine capacity are interdependent and an increase in any of these factors alone would not impact litter size. Insulin seems to positively impact at least two of these components, ovulation rate and early embryo survival.

Accordingly, we would expect chromium supplementation to result in the following effects (Figure 3): improved follicular maturation, increased ovulation rate, increased blood progesterone levels on days 3-4 of pregnancy, improved uterine

Figure 2: Glucose transporters and insulin action (INF-2014-00021)

Insulin/Chromium

Glucose Anabolism

Growth hormone Insulin growth factor

Protein synthesis

Growth of lean tissue, Milk production, General maintenance, Immuno-competence

Role of chromium in glucose metabolism Under normal conditions, insulin binds to the receptor triggering a sequence of events that result in the activation of protein Kinase B, and ultimately, on the mobilization of Glut-4 vesicles to the cell membrane, which facilitate the transport of glucose into the cell as depicted in Figure 2. Interestingly, the presence of chromium potentiates the action of insulin in insulin-sensitive tissues, which results in a greater net glucose movement into the cell than in the absence of chromium. Figure 2: Glucose transporters and insulin action (INF-2014-00021)

The role of insulin in reproductive performance

function as reflected in the increased secretion of uterine proteins and improved embryonic survival.

Physiological responses in swine to chromium

Pigs respond to the dietary supplementation of chromium with increases in litter size, increased loin muscle area and decreased backfat. It is hypothesised that insulin affects litter size by increasing the number of eggs ovulated and fertilised, and supporting early embryonic survival. The wide range of biological effects of chromium supplementation of chromium deficient diets can be explained by the potentiation of the insulin response of insulin sensitive

Figure 3: Proposed mode of action of chromium in increasing litter size in swine.

tissue such as fat, muscle or brain tissue.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted within a commercial sow unit in Canada, using a total of 500 sows of Hypor genetic stock. The sows were housed in gestation and lactation crates as is standard throughout the swine

This paper was presented at the

Ho Chi Minh City 9–10 April 2015

Chromium – Customer comments

Taiwanese pig farmer Mr Lin Martin has successfully been using KemTRACE™ Chromium on his 1000 sow piggery since 2009. Sows

and gilts are feed KemTRACE™ Chromium (500 g/tonne feed, 200ppb chromium) during gestation and lactation, resulting in significant increase in pigs weaned per sow per year.

Grower pigs are feed continuously (500-1000 g/tonne feed, 200-400 ppb chromium) from weaning to finishing. Lin observed that “pigs are growing faster, especially during the 30-80kg bodyweight phase, they ‘pump-up’ so obviously. Now, our pigs go to market at 190 days, weighing 125+kg, with an FCR of 2.35-2.5, we are very happy with KemTRACE™ Chromium,” commented Mr. Lin. Overall, he estimates that the benefits of KemTRACE™ Chromium result in a return on investment of about 3 to 1.

Lin Martin

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industry. The sows were handled in a manner consistent with the commercial system. Diets were formulated using corn, soybean meal and a mineral premix as the major components. In addition, wheat was included (4.7-12.7 % depending on stage) as well as fat added at 7.0% in the lactation diets. There were two dietary treatments: control and control

plus 200 ppb of Cr added from chromium propionate. The Cr in the Cr treatment group was provided prior to gestation and throughout the entire trial (both gestation and lactation). All diets were supplied as pellets.

Sows and gilts entered the trial prior to breeding or in the gilt developer, respectively. They remained on the study through two consecutive

Table 1: The effect of feeding KemTRACE™ Chromium propionate during the fi rst reproductive cycle.

Item Control Cr from Chromium Propionate at 200ppb

Sow Feed Intake (kg/day)a 5.88 6.05Total Pigs Born/Sowb 13.1 13.8Pigs Weaned/Sowc 10.0 10.3 a P=0.03, b P=0.01, c P=0.05

Table 2: The effect of feeding KemTRACE™ Chromium propionate during the second reproductive cycle.

Item Control Cr from Chromium Propionate at 200ppb

Sow Feed Intake (kg/day) 5.51 5.74Total Pigs Born/Sowa 12.8 13.5Live Born Pigs/Sowb 11.8 12.7Pigs Weaned/Sow 10.21 10.40

a P=0.03, b P=0.01

gestation and lactation cycles.

Results and Discussion

Feeding chromium propionate resulted in improved sow performance in this study. The sows in Cr treatment group ate more in the fi rst reproductive cycle (Table 1). There were also more pigs born and more pigs weaned in both reproductive cycles from the Cr treatment group (Table 1 & 2).

Conclusions

The inclusion of KemTRACE™ Chromium in sow gestation and lactation diets increased sow feed intake, litter size, number of live pigs born and numbers of pigs weaned per sow in both reproductive cycles. Increase in the number of pigs weaned would translate into return on investment (ROI) numbers in excess of 15 to 1. AP*Chinnadurai Sugumar (sugumar.c@kemin.com) is Product Manager, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health, Asia Pacific. Brian Kremer (brian.kremer@kemin.com) is Senior Technical Service Manager, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health, North America. Edwin Chow (edwin.chow@kemin.com)is Staff Scientist, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health, Asia Pacific. A list of references is available on request to the first author.

Reproduced courtesy of – ASIAN PORK MAGAZINE – August 2015

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