Effects of delta-aminolevulinic acid and vitamin C supplementation on feed intake, backfat, and iron status in sows1

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary administered delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and vitamin C on the hematological profiles and performance of sows and sucking pigs and to determine if iron status could be improved by dietary administration of ALA. Seven days before parturition, 120 sows (Landrace x Yorkshire) were randomly assigned within parities to 1 of 4 dietary treatments. The lactation treatments were arranged as a 2 x 2 factorial with 2 ALA concentrations (0 or 10 mg/kg of feed, as fed) and 2 vitamin C concentrations (0 or 500 mg/kg of feed, as fed). After farrowing, daily feed allowance increased gradually, and sows had ad libitum access to feed by wk 2. Sows provided diets with ALA tended to consume more feed (P < 0.10) than sows fed diets that did not contain ALA. Conversely, backfat losses were less in sows that received the diets with ALA compared with those received the nonsupplemented diets (P < 0.05). Supplementation with ALA and vitamin C resulted in improved hematological profiles (total protein, albumin, and IgG) in sows (P < 0.05). The iron status in the blood and milk were also improved by ALA supplementation (P < 0.05). Moreover, the BW at weaning and the ADG during the sucking period increased in response to supplementation of ALA and vitamin C (P < 0.05). The blood iron status of piglets was also improved by ALA supplementation (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of ALA can increase the blood iron status of sows and sucking pigs, as well as the iron transfer efficiency from sows to piglets through elevated milk iron concentrations.

Novel development of 5-aminolevurinic acid (ALA) in cancer diagnoses and therapy

“…One such study reports that ALA was found to stimulate the immune function of chickens and swine when administered in their feed in combination with vitamin C. [41] In addition, it has been reported that increased ALA levels are associated with a decrease in infectious mortality. As previously mentioned, immune modulation by ALA alone, without treatment as PDT, may depend on the biological activity of heme and its metabolites (Fig.…”

Effects of dietary delta-aminolevulinic acid and vitamin C on growth performance, immune organ weight and ferrum status in broiler chicks

“…Similarly, the results of these previous studies also demonstrated that serum Fe increased when the diets were supplemented with 10 mg kg − 1 ALA in piglets (Chen et al, 2008a;Wang et al, 2009) and 5 mg kg − 1 in laying hens (Chen et al, 2008c). ALA synthase, which is the reaction limiting enzyme during the formation of hemoglobin, is regulated by the production of heme via a feedback mechanism in most cells, with the exception of erythrocytes, in which it is regulated by the availability of Fe in the form of a Fe-sulfur cluster (Döring et al, 1998).…”

“…This biosynthesis pathway is also controlled by the heme concentration, which exerts negative feedback on the activity of ALA synthase. Recently, it has been suggested that the addition of exogenous ALA may overcome the limitation of ALA synthase during heme synthesis, thereby causing more heme to be available in the body for utilization (Mateo et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2009).…”

effect of ascorbic acid as a feed additive on indicators of the reproductive performance of Pulawska breed gilts

“…A prominent increase in the IgG level in colostrum of sows directly after parturition was recorded in the experimental group in comparison to the control one. On Wang et al (37) study on the supplementation of δ-aminolevulinic acid (10 mg/kg of feed, as fed) with vitamin C (500 mg/ kg of feed, as fed) resulted in improved hematological profiles (total protein, albumin, and IgG) in sows. The level of vitamin C in the experimental group (both in colostrum and milk) was higher as compared with the control group (P ≤ 0.01).…”