Effects of Dietary Star Anise (Illicium verum) Supplementation during Late Gestation and Lactation on the Performance of Multiparous Sows and Their Progeny until 21 Days Post-weaning

Moon, Jeong Hyun; Jang, Jae-Cheol; Kim, Yoo Yong

doi:.0.0.0

Article

https://doi.org/10.5713/ab.24.0766 [Accepted] Published online February 27, 2025.

Effects of Dietary Star Anise (Illicium verum) Supplementation during Late Gestation and Lactation on the Performance of Multiparous Sows and Their Progeny until 21 Days Post-weaning

Jeong Hyun Moon¹

, Jae-Cheol Jang²

, Yoo Yong Kim^1,*

¹Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
²Division of Animal Science and Institute of Agricultural and Life Science, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju-si, Korea

Correspondence: Yoo Yong Kim, Tel: +82-2-880-4801, Fax: +82-2-878-5839, Email: yooykim@snu.ac.kr

Received: 4 November 2024 • Revised: 5 December 2024 • Accepted: 17 January 2025

Abstract

Objective
This study aimed to investigate the effects of star anise (SA) supplementation during late gestation and lactation on the performance of multiparous sows and their progeny until 21 days post-weaning.
Methods
A total of 40 pregnant sows were housed in individual stalls and allocated into two treatment groups using a completely randomized design based on body weight, backfat thickness, and parity. The treatments consisted of either 0% or 0.1% SA supplementation during late gestation and lactation. Following the lactation period, 160 weaning piglets were used to investigate the imprinting effects of SA. The dietary treatment was continued in a manner that the piglets received the same diet as their litter. Data collected included serum antioxidant status in sows, milk composition, and stress markers in piglets, which were measured at various stages.
Results
Sows fed with SA during late gestation exhibited significantly higher serum total antioxidant status (p < 0.03). Additionally, SA supplementation increased lactose content in the milk (p < 0.01). Piglets from sows fed the SA diet during late gestation showed lower serum cortisol and epinephrine concentrations at weaning (p < 0.01, p < 0.04, respectively). SA supplementation during lactation further reduced serum cortisol levels in weaning piglets at a day after weaning (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
The current experiment indicated that supplementing dietary SA in gestation and lactation diet showed higher serum antioxidant properties in sows and improved the quality of sow milk, consequently enhancing litter performance.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Imprinting; Piglet; Sow; Star anise