Effect of Gestational Folic Acid Supplementation of Sows on Offspring Muscle Development and Postnatal Growth Response

Pairs of littermate, primiparous sows were penned individually and fed daily 1.9 kg of a low folic acid (FA) (.28 mg/kg) basal diet supplemented with 0 or 8 mg of FA from mating through parturition. All sows were fed the basal diet for 112 days prior to breeding to minimize the sows initial body folic acid stores. FA supplementation in sows during gestation resulted in elevated concentrations of serum FA. However, FA supplementation did not affect litter birth weight, litter muscle, fat, or bone weights, or litter DNA and protein content of three individual muscles at birth. FA supplementation of the sow also did not affect the offspring’s body weight gain, feed intake, and gain:feed ratio from body weights of 13 to 107 kg. Based on these data, a dietary folic acid regimen of.3 ppm (.53 mg/day) during pregnancy supports normal muscle growth in pigs pre- and postnatally