Productive, Reproductive, and Metabolic Responses of Replacement Gilts to Immunomodulatory Protein Concentrate Supplementation During Flushing

Genetic improvement, combined with the stress challenges of swine production, interferes with body condition and may impair the immunity and reproduction of gilts. The objective of this study was to estimate the productive and reproductive responses of gilts fed an immunomodulatory protein concentrate during flushing. A total of 196 gilts exhibiting second estrus were used. They were distributed in completely randomized design with two treatments (0; 40 g/d of immunomodulatory protein concentrate), distributed in blocks of light and heavy gilts. Productive and reproductive performance data, as well as metabolic parameters, were collected and subjected to analysis of variance, for which we adopted a 5% significance level. Interaction of treatment × weight × batch for average live piglet weight (p = 0.003) was verified. Gilts fed the diet with IPC showed no differences (p > 0.05) in glucose or triglyceride parameters. Flushing diets containing 40 g/d of immunomodulatory protein concentrate did not result in differences in body condition or reproductive performance of modern light and heavy gilts. Under the nutritional conditions evaluated, immunomodulatory protein concentrate supplementation therefore did not modify the metabolic profiles of gilts across weight categories.