Abstract
As one of the most important trace elements required by sows, especially in the late gestation period, iron plays a crucial role in the growth and development of a fetus. To explore the effects of dietary supplementation with ferrous sucrose on the reproductive performance of sows and the hepatic iron stores in offspring, sixty primiparous Landrace × Yorkshire sows on day 95 of gestation with an average body weight of 174.1 ± 7.7 kg were randomly assigned to two groups of a basic diet (control) and a basic diet supplemented with 109 mg/kg ferrous sucrose (FS) in a fully randomized block design. The trial lasted for 20 days. The results showed that maternal supplementation with ferrous sucrose significantly increased litter weight (p = 0.002) in neonatal piglets. Compared with the control group, the serum iron and serum transferrin saturation of farrowing sows increased by 45.67% (p = 0.002) and 37.01% (p = 0.033), respectively, and umbilical cord serum iron (p = 0.012) also increased in the FS group. Finally, the serum iron (p < 0.001) and hepatic iron stores (p = 0.071) of neonatal piglets were both increased to varying degrees. Taken together, supplementation of pregnant sows with ferrous sucrose has positive effects on the growth and hepatic iron stores of their offspring.