Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology
Article

Almond hull in lactation sows diet: impact on reproduction, nutrient digestibility, fecal score, milk content, and suckling piglet growth.

Golam Ahammad, Chai Bin Lim*, In Ho Kim**
1Department of Animal Resource and Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Chai Bin Lim, Phone: 01020206640. E-mail: coqlsdlek@naver.com.
**Corresponding Author: In Ho Kim, E-mail: inhokim@dankook.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2024 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Sep 07, 2023; Revised: Jan 09, 2024; Accepted: Apr 08, 2024

Published Online: Apr 11, 2024

Abstract

     The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of incorporating dietary almond hull (AH) supplementation on various aspects, including the reproductive and growth performance of sows and their piglets, as well as nutrient digestibility, milk composition, and fecal score. For this purpose, a total of 21 sows (Landrace × Yorkshire), with an average parity of 3.3, were selected and divided into three dietary treatment groups: (i) a control group as basal diet (CON), (ii) the basal diet with 3% AH (TRT1), and (iii) the basal diet with 6% AH (TRT2). This study covered the period from 100<sup>th</sup> day of pregnancy until weaning. Dietary AH supplementation did not affect lactating sow’s reproduction performance as well as body weight, backfat thickness, and body condition score during pre- and post- farrowing, and at weaning. Similarly, body weight loss, backfat thickness loss, average daily feed intake, and estrus interval did not show significant variations among the treatment groups. Furthermore, the inclusion of AH in the diet has not had a discernible impact on nutrient digestibility. However, dietary supplementation of the AH has improved the body weight (P = 0.0464) at weaning and average daily gain (P = 0.0146) of suckling piglets. Moreover, the milk content and fecal score of the sows did not exhibit significant differences across the treatment groups. Overall, the addition of AH to the sow diet had a favorable effect on the body weight and average daily gain of suckling piglets, without exerting any detrimental effects on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, milk composition, and fecal score of lactating sows.

Keywords: almond hull; fecal score; growth performance; lactating sow; milk content; nutrient digestibility