Effects of dietary yeast β-glucan on lactating sows under heat stress

This study sought to determine the impact of dietary supplementation with yeast β-glucan on the alleviation of heat stress (HS) in lactating sows during the summer. Thirty cross-bred sows (Landrace × Yorkshire) with an initial body weight of 216.2 ± 7 kg, an average parity of 3, and their litter were used in this study. Sows were randomly allotted to three treatments (10 sows per treatment). The treatments included the control group (CON), BG5 (supplemented with 0.05% β-glucan and BG10 (supplemented with 0.01% β-glucan). Results showed that yeast β-glucan significantly lowered (p < 0.05) respiratory rate compared to CON, and average daily feed intake was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the BG10 treatment compared to the CON, although not different from the BG5 treatment. Piglet weaning weight was greater (p < 0.05) in the BG10 group than the CON group although it did not exhibit any distinction from the BG5 treatment, hair cortisol concentration was significantly lowered (p < 0.05) in the BG10 treatment compared to the CON and BG5 treatments, tumor necrosis factor-α was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the CON treatment than in BG5 and BG10 treatments, the BG10 group demonstrated a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in the. serum level of lipopolysaccharide compared to both the CON and BG5 treatment. Based on these results, dietary yeast β-glucan positively impacted the alleviation of HS in sows, leading to improved average daily feed intake that led to an increase in the growth performance of the litter.