Gastric emptying is similar between IUGR and normal piglets

Increased litter sizes due to hyper prolific sows have led to litters with up to 30% of piglets being born with signs of intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR). IUGR piglets have lower survival rates and are more likely to have empty stomachs at 24 hours. In addition, it is estimated that IUGR piglets can only consume 100 g of the recommended 250 g of colostrum within the first 24 hours. The gastric emptying rate of these piglets might influence their survival rates and therefore we hypothesised that the gastric emptying rate would be lower in IUGR piglets compared to normal piglets.

Due to the brain sparing effect, IUGR piglets can easily be recognised on-farm by their headshape rather than only by their birth weight. Forty-eight piglets were therefore classified at birth as either normal or IUGR based on their head morphology (24 normal and 24 IUGR piglets). Piglets were removed from the sow before they had suckled, and were marked for identification purposes, dried, and the umbilical cord shortened to 15 cm. Birth weight was recorded and sow’s colostrum obtained from other sows previously, warmed to 35°C and tube-fed to all piglets at 12mL/kg body weight as soon as possible after birth (t=0 min). The ambient temperature in the farrowing room was 24°C and piglets were kept in a boarded of creep area (with rape granules) with a heating lamp (150W) and with temperatures ranging from 24-29°C. The piglets were randomly allocated to be euthanized at 15, 30, 60 and 120 min (all groups n=6) after bolus feeding, and the weights of stomach and its content were recorded. Data were analyzed univariately using PROC GLM in SAS.

Average birth weights were 0.7 ± 0.04 kg vs. 1.38 ± 0.04 kg in IUGR and normal piglets (P< 0.001). After 15 min, approx. 40% of the tube-fed colostrum had passed through the stomach of the normal piglets and approx. 25% of the tube-fed colostrum had passed through the stomach of the IUGR piglets. At 30 min this value was 56% and 45% respectively, at 60 min it was 71% and 67% respectively, and finally, after 120 min these values were 83% and 78% for normal and for IUGR piglets, respectively, of the tube-fed colostrum that had passed through the stomach. The differences between IUGR and normal piglets were not significant.

Gastric emptying rates are similar between IUGR and normal piglets, and at 120 min the ventricles are almost empty after a single bolus feeding.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.