Abstract Background Nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplementation has been demonstrated efficacy in enhancing female reproductive outcomes, but its regulatory role in sow performance and gut microbiome remains undefined. This study systematically evaluated the impacts of dietary NR supplementation during late gestation and lactation on sow performance and gut microbiome remodeling. A total of 280 sows were randomized assigned to one of four groups: a control group or one of three groups receiving NR-supplemented diets (2, 4, or 8 g/d; n = 70/group). Sow reproductive performance, blood metabolic parameters, milk metabolome, and fecal 16S rRNA sequencing were measured. Results Maternal NR supplementation linearly shortened farrowing duration (P P P = 0.1). Litter weaning weight and average daily gain increased quadratically with NR dosage (P P P Bifidobacterium, Ruminococcus, Lachnospiraceae, Subdoligranulum, Clostridium butyricum, Succiniclasticum) across sow-offspring dyads, which was associated with the activation of microbial NAD⁺ enzymes (NadR/NAMPT) (P P + metabolic-associated microbiome remodeling. These findings propose maternal NR intervention as a novel strategy to enhance mammary lactogenesis and metabolic efficiency in swine production, with potential applications for therapeutic strategies for lactation insufficiency.
Huang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.