PSVI-17 - Morphological alterations on the duodenum and skeletal muscle of the offspring of sows supplemented with FLAVORAD RP® during gestation

Abstract: Sows nutritional management during gestation is a crucial factor, which influences offspring postnatal performance. Alternative nutritional supplements, such as functional amino acids, may be offered to gestating sows to ensure optimal embryonic and fetal development. Thus, studying the effects of such supplementation on the performance of litters is essential, particularly in commercially relevant organs such as the skeletal muscle, which will give rise to meat, and small intestine (SI), crucial for digestion and nutrients absorption. This study aimed to investigate morphological alterations on the duodenum (DD) and semitendinosus muscle (ST) from offspring of sows supplemented with FLAVORAD RP® (Agroceres Multimix, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil), which is an immunomodulatory functional amino acids concentrate, during gestation. Twenty-eight females (parities range: 1^st-7^th) were randomly and proportionally distributed among three treatments: T1 - sows receiving a control diet, with no supplementation, throughout gestation (n=9); T2 - sows receiving a control diet + supplementation (40g/sow) until the 60^th gestational day (n=9); T3 - sows receiving a control diet + supplementation (40g/sow) throughout gestation (n=10). Supplementation was offered on top from the first insemination until the 60^th (T2) or 112^nd (T3) day of gestation. Ten male piglets from each treatment were euthanized at 25 and 145 days of age. The ST and SI were dissected and weighted, and the SI length was also recorded. Fragments of ST and DD were collected, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and processed to obtain histological slides for further histomorphometrical analysis. Data was analyzed as a complete randomized design using SAS software (2001) through analysis of variance. At 25 days, no effects of supplementation were observed for ST or SI weight. However, T3 animals showed a higher proportion of myofiber nuclei and lower proportion of connective tissue than T1, and both T2 and T3 exhibited higher proportion of blood vessels (P< 0.05) (Table 1). Also, all the DD histological parameters and SI length were higher in T2 and T3 (P< 0.05). At 145 days, no effects of supplementation were observed for SI weight and length and DD histology. However, T2 and T3 showed higher ST weight and sarcoplasm proportion (P< 0.05) (Table 1). Moreover, T3 presented higher proportion of blood vessels and T2, higher proportion of myofiber nuclei (P< 0.01), and T1 exhibited higher proportion of adipocytes (P< 0.01). Taken together, the results demonstrate the benefits of supplementing gestating sows with FLAVORAD RP® related to offspring skeletal muscle structural composition, which possibly can be associated to meat quality, and on duodenal morphology, possibly improving nutrients absorption.