The Impact of Vitamins on Pig Reproductive Performance Is Actually This Big
Vitamins are one of the important factors affecting pig reproductive function, and pig diets need to contain a certain amount of various vitamins. This article explains the mechanisms of action of vitamins A, B, D, and E, and introduces the deficiency symptoms and the harms of excess in pigs.
Vitamins are a class of trace low-molecular-weight organic compounds essential for maintaining normal physiological function in animals. Although they are not the main components constituting various tissues, nor are they a source of energy for the body, their role in the animal body is enormous, and most are components of coenzymes. These enzymes are indispensable for the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
4. The impact of vitamin E imbalance on pig reproductive function
Vitamin E is a group of biologically active phenolic compounds with similar chemical structures, mainly present in plant-based feeds. It is needed by various animals at different growth stages. Among them, alpha-tocopherol has the strongest anti-infertility activity. It promotes the development and maturation of the gonads, promotes conception, and prevents miscarriage.
Insufficient vitamin E in the feed and depletion of vitamin E reserves in the body are the main causes of infertility. Vitamin E is an active antioxidant that can keep proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolism normal. Animals themselves cannot synthesize vitamin E, but they can store it. When the feed contains fat and bile acids, vitamin E is absorbed from the small intestine.
Vitamin E has multiple physiological functions, so when it is deficient, the symptoms that occur are varied. It is related to the respiratory process; it prevents the excessive formation in the body of some enzymes from toxic metabolic products; it regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the body and tissues, normalizing the action of many enzyme systems; it regulates endocrine gland function, participates in embryonic development, and prevents reproductive dysfunction.
When vitamin E is deficient, metabolism is impaired to a considerable degree, and severe morphological changes occur in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and spinal cord. The structure and tissue organization of various organs change, and along with a reduction in the proteins involved in muscle contraction, muscle atrophy and uterine physiological dysfunction occur. Secretion of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone from the anterior pituitary stops, and at the same time the regulation of vitamin A and fat absorption is impaired, forming toxic products that poison embryonic epithelial cells and exert adverse effects on fertilization and the normal development of embryos and fetuses.
After a sow becomes pregnant, vitamin E deficiency can lead to embryonic death and resorption. Mild vitamin E deficiency has no effect on pregnancy and farrowing, but may produce stillborn, weak, or nonviable fetuses; severe deficiency interrupts pregnancy, with embryos dying after implantation, being resorbed, and causing silent miscarriage. Long-term vitamin E deficiency causes degeneration of the ovarian and uterine mucosa, making conception impossible and resulting in permanent infertility.
Green and succulent feeds contain relatively large amounts of various vitamins. If preserved and prepared properly and reasonably matched, a balance can be achieved fairly easily under general production conditions. However, as the pig industry develops toward intensification, the addition of vitamins deserves more and more of our attention.