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| Publications [#174151] of G. Allan Johnson
Papers Published
- X Li, FW Bazer, GA Johnson, RC Burghardt, DW Erikson, JW Frank, TE Spencer, I Shinzato, G Wu, Dietary Supplementation with 0.8% L-Arginine between Days 0 and 25 of Gestation Reduces Litter Size in Gilts.,
The Journal of nutrition
(April, 2010), ISSN 1541-6100 [doi]
(last updated on 2010/04/30)
Abstract:
In this study, we determined the effects of l-arginine supplementation during early pregnancy on embryonic/fetal survival and growth in gilts. Gilts were housed individually in pens and fed twice daily 1 kg of a corn- and soybean meal-based diet supplemented with 0.0, 0.4, or 0.8% l-arginine (wt:wt) between d 0 and 25 of gestation (10 gilts/treatment). The diets were made isonitrogenous by addition of appropriate amounts of l-alanine. At d 25 of gestation, gilts were fed l-alanine or l-arginine and hysterectomized 30 min later to obtain uteri and conceptuses (embryos and associated fetal membranes and fluids). Dietary supplementation with 0.4 or 0.8% l-arginine enhanced (P < 0.05) its concentrations in maternal plasma (64 and 98%, respectively) as well as the vascularity of chorionic and allantoic membranes, compared with the control group. Reproductive performance [numbers of corpora lutea (CL) and fetuses, placental and fetal weights, and embryonic mortality] did not differ between the 0.4% Arg and control groups. However, supplementation with 0.8% l-arginine decreased (P < 0.05) uterine weight (-20%), total number of fetuses (-24%), CL number (-17%), total fetal weight (-34%), total volume of allantoic and amniotic fluids (-34 to 42%), concentrations of progesterone in maternal plasma (-33%), as well as total amounts of progesterone (-35%), estrone (-40%), and estrone sulfate (-37%) in allantoic fluid, compared with the control group. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with 0.8% l-arginine between d 0 and 25 of gestation, while increasing placental vascularity, adversely affects the reproductive performance of gilts.
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