REPRODUCTIVE QUALITIES OF LARGE WHITE SOWS WHEN FED A VITAMIN FEED SUPPLEMENT
The experimental studies of Large White pigs were conducted under production conditions on the pig breeding farm of the OAO “Linevskiy plemzavod” (Altai Region, Smolenskiy District) in 2014. The research goal was to study the influence of feeding the LipoKar vitamin feed supplement to sows on their reproductive qualities. The sows of the control group were fed the basic diet balanced in terms of all nutrients. The sows of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trial groups during the last 30 days of gestation were fed LipoKar vitamin feed supplement in addition to their basic diet once a day for 20 days. The following dosages of the LipoKar feed supplement (per animal per day) were fed: the 1st trial group - 1.1 g; 2nd trial group - 1.6 g; 3rd trial group - 2.1 g. Feeding the LipoKar vitamin feed supplement in a dosage of 1.6 and 2.1 g per animal per day increased sow prolificacy by 1.7% and 10.3% (p ≤ 0.01), respectively. The sows of the 3rd trial group had the largest number of piglets in a farrow throughout suckling period; the number was larger than that in the control group by 1.6-6.8% (p ≤ 0.05). The trend of piglet survival rate increase in the farrows of trial group sows was revealed; the increase was in the range of 3.7-3.9%. The sows of the 3rd trial group outperformed the control group by litter weight by 6.9-56.2% (p ≤ 0.01). The largest piglet birth weight was in the 3rd trial group; 20% superiority trend over the sows of the control group was revealed.