Birthweight has no influence on chemical body composition and muscle energy stores in suckling piglets

Economic losses in pig production are highly due to neonatal mortality and poor postnatal growth performances predominantly of low birthweight piglets. To explore underlying mechanisms, we describe in this paper the effects of age and birthweight on body composition and muscle energy stores. Different parameters were assessed in pairs of low birthweight (LBW, n = 32) and normal birthweight (NBW, n = 32) piglets, at Day 0 (n = 16), Day 3 (n = 16), Day 10 (n = 16) and Day 28 (n = 16) of age. In total six piglets (three LBW and three NBW) per age group were killed for chemical total body composition analysis. The M. semimembranosus of 10 additional piglets (five LBW and five NBW) per age group were sampled for the analysis of muscle lipid and glycogen contents. Fore none of the tested parameters differences related to birthweight were observed (P > 0.05). With increasing age, dry matter, fat and protein percentages increased in both LBW and NBW piglets (P < 0.01). Body ash content remained constant during growth (P > 0.05). Muscle glycogen contents decreased with increasing age for both types of piglets (P < 0.05), whereas no age effects could be observed for muscle lipid deposition (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the age of the suckling piglet has a major impact on its body composition and muscle energy stores but its birthweight unexpectedly has no influence.

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