Effect of Dietary Biotin Supplementation on Sow Reproductive Performance and Soundness and Pig Growth and Mortality

January 1991 in “ Journal of Animal Science ”

Kevin Watkins, L. L. Southern, J.E. Miller

TLDR Biotin supplementation in sow diets is unnecessary.

A 3-year study involving 90 sows and gilts and 223 litters evaluated the impact of dietary biotin supplementation on reproductive performance and piglet growth and mortality. Sows were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets with or without 440 micrograms/kg d-biotin throughout their reproductive cycle. The study found that biotin supplementation did not significantly affect sow weight, weaning to estrus interval, foot lesion score, hair loss score, structural soundness, or piglet birth and survival rates. Additionally, there was no effect on piglet growth or mortality up to 21 days of age. The results indicated that biotin supplementation in sow diets was unnecessary.

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Research cited in this study

2 / 2 results

research Development of a System for Clinical Evaluation of the Biotin Status of Sows

4 citations , January 1986 in “PubMed”

Serum biotin levels can indicate biotin deficiency in sows.

research Response of Sows and Litters to Added Dietary Biotin in Environmentally Regulated Facilities

30 citations , July 1984 in “Journal of Animal Science”

Adding biotin to sows' diets increased the number of pigs weaned per litter.

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research The Clinical Evaluation of Serum WS Biotin, a Novel Encapsulated Form of D-Biotin With Improved Water Solubility, for Anti-Hair Shedding Applications. A Prospective Single-Arm, Nonrandomized, Pretest-Posttest Study

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