Dietary Supplementation of Magnesium Sulfate during Late Gestation and Lactation Affects the Milk Composition and Immunoglobulin Levels in Sows

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) during late gestation and lactation on sow and litter performance, fecal moisture, blood biochemistry parameters, immunoglobulin levels and milk composition in sows. Forty-eight sows (Yorkshire×Landrace, 4th to 5th parity) were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 dietary treatments supplemented with 0, 200, 400, or 600 mg/kg MgSO4 (n = 12). The experiment started on day 90 of gestation and continued through day 21 of lactation. Blood samples were collected on day 107 of gestation, day 0 (farrowing) and 21 (weaning) of lactation for the analyses of the blood biochemistry parameters and immunoglobulin levels. The colostrum and milk samples were obtained on day 0 and 14 of lactation, respectively. Fecal samples were collected from the sows on day 107 of gestation as well as day 7 and 20 of lactation to determine fecal moisture content. The results showed that the survival percentage of piglets and the litter weight at weaning were decreased linearly (p<0.05) and other parameters of the sow or litter performance were not influenced (p>0.05) by MgSO4 supplementation. The fecal moisture content of the sows were increased (p<0.05) linearly as dietary MgSO4 increased on day 7 and 20 of lactation. Supplementation with MgSO4 increased the plasma magnesium (Mg) level linearly (p<0.05) and had a trend to increase total protein level (p>0.05 and p<0.10). However, an increase in the dietary MgSO4 level resulted in a linear decrease in the colostrum fat content (p<0.05). Dietary MgSO4 supplementation enhanced the immunoglobulin G (IgG) level (linear, p<0.05) in plasma on day of farrowing and immunoglobulin A (IgA) level in colostrum (quadratic, p<0.05) and milk (linear, p<0.05) of the sows. These results indicated that supplementation with MgSO4 during late gestation and lactation may have the potential to prevent sow constipation, but may also result in some negative effects.