Effects of Vitamin A and β-Carotene on Reproductive Performance in Gilts

Abstract

The effects of vitamin A and beta-carotene on various reproductive parameters were examined in 108 crossbred gilts. Gilts were fed a diet free of vitamin A and beta-carotene for 5 wk, then assigned to one of eight treatments. Statistical comparisons were performed on three sub-groupings of these treatments as follows: (1) DEFICIENT (received 2,100 IU of vitamin A X head-1 X d-1, (2) FED (received dietary supplementation of 0, 2,100 or 12,300 IU vitamin A and (or) 0, 32.6 or 65.2 mg beta-carotene X head-1 X d-1) or (3) INJECTED (received injection supplementation of 0 or 12,300 IU vitamin A and 32.6 mg beta-carotene X head-1 X d-1, administered once weekly). Gilts remained on treatment through weaning of litters at 21 d postpartum. Plasma vitamin A and beta-carotene levels were greatly elevated in INJECTED gilts. Concentrations of these compounds in plasma were similar between DEFICIENT and FED gilts. There was no treatment difference in number of corpora lutea/gilt. Embryonic mortality was lowest (P less than .01 to .02) in INJECTED gilts (14 +/- 3%) compared with DEFICIENT (29 +/- 5%) or FED (25 +/- 3%) gilts. Baby pig mortality averaged 6 +/- 1% and was not different among treatments. INJECTED gilts had more (P less than .05 to .01) piglets/litter at birth and at weaning (9.5 +/- .3 and 9.0 +/- .3 piglets/litter, respectively) than DEFICIENT (7.9 +/- .5 and 7.6 +/- .5 piglets/litter) or FED gilts (8.7 +/- .3 and 8.1 +/- .3 piglets/litter).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of dietary ?-carotene on the accumulation of ?-carotene and vitamin A in plasma and tissues of gilts

“…Changes in concentrations of plasma vitamin A (retinol, retinyl palmitate) and β-carotene throughout the experimental period are shown in Figure 1. The plasma retinol concentrations were in agreement with the literature values [1,3,27]. Over the whole feeding period there were no differences within or between the differently fed animals concerning retinol.…”

“…Reports have been made of 10-fold greater levels in plasma, but they contain no information on the amount of β-carotene in the feed [5]. The same group could not detect any β-carotene in the plasma of gilts fed up to 65.2 mg β-carotene per day [3]. This amount represents approximately one fifth of the amount fed in this study.…”

“…But beside this function as a systemic or local vitamin A source, β-carotene has attracted attention because of its possible importance in the reproductive performance of different species of farm animals [22]. Positive effects of β-carotene on fertility have been observed in cattle, horses, rabbits and pigs [3,6]. But results in all species are still somewhat contradictory [8].…”

Oocytes recovered from cows treated with retinol become unviable as blastocysts produced in vitro

“…In addition, OPU performed at 3-or 4-day intervals is a scheme that can be used for up to 4 consecutive months (Petyim et al 2003) and has been shown to yield more oocytes per session and embryos from each oocyte batch collected at 3-day intervals (Merton et al 2003), although we found no significant differences between same intervals (data non shown). Our hypothesis is further supported by the fact that retinoid treatment has been previously shown to increase litter size in the gilt (Brief & Chew 1983, Coffey & Britt 1993 and rabbit (Besenfelder et al 1996), and improve embryonic quality without modifying ovulation rates (Shaw et al 1995) in superovulated cows (Shaw et al 1995) and ewes (Eberhardt et al 1999).…”

Development of Oocytes and Preimplantation Embryos of Mice Fed Diet Supplemented with Dunaliella salina

“…There are beneficial effects of β-carotene of D. salina on reproduction reported of various species. β-carotene administration in mice (Chew and Arche, 1983) and pigs (Brief and Chew, 1985;Kostoglou et al, 2000) increased litter size and decreased embryonic mortality. Haliloglu et al (2002) found a positive correlation between beta-carotene level and corpus luteum weight and function of pregnant cattle.…”