Short Communication

Communication brève

Feeding altrenogest during late lactation improves fertility

of primiparous sows nursing smaller litters
Nutthee Am-in, Roy N. Kirkwood

Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine whether feeding altrenogest (AT) to primiparous sows with smaller litters during
the last week of lactation would improve their fertility. At day 21 of a 28-day lactation, 40 primiparous sows nursing # 8 pigs
were assigned equally to 2 groups, either to be fed 20 mg per day of AT for the last 7 days of lactation or to serve as untreated
controls. To detect estrus, sows had daily fence-line contact with a mature boar. At estrus detection, sows were subject to an
ovarian examination with transrectal ultrasound and preovulatory follicles ($ 0.6 mm) were counted. Sows were artificially
inseminated at estrus detection and again 24 hours later. Compared to controls, the AT-fed sows had longer weaning-to-estrus
intervals (WEIs; P , 0.001), more pre-ovulatory follicles (P , 0.001), and larger subsequent litter sizes (P = 0.03). Farrowing rates
were unaffected by treatment. These data suggest that sows nursing small litters are more likely to initiate a follicular phase
during lactation, but that feeding AT prevents this and increases ovulation rate and subsequent litter size.

Résumé
L’objectif de la présente étude était de déterminer si en fournissant de l’altrenogest (AT) à des truies primipares avec des petites portées
durant la dernière semaine de lactation il y aurait amélioration de leur fertilité. Au jour 21 d’une période de lactation de 28 jours, 40 truies
primipares allaitant # 8 porcelets ont été assignées également à deux groupes, pour soit être nourries avec 20 mg par jour d’AT pour les
sept derniers jours de la lactation ou de servir de témoins négatifs. Afin de détecter l’œstrus, les truies venaient en contact derrière une
barrière avec un verrat mature. Au moment de la détection de l’œstrus, les truies étaient soumises à un examen des ovaires par échographie
transrectale et les follicules pré-ovulatoires ($ 0,6 mm) étaient dénombrés. Les truies furent inséminées artificiellement au moment de la
détection de l’œstrus et encore une fois 24 h plus tard. Comparativement aux témoins, les truies nourries avec de l’AT avaient un intervalle
sevrage-œstrus plus long (WEIs; P , 0,001), avaient plus de follicules pré-ovulatoires (P , 0,001) et des tailles de portées subséquentes plus
grandes (P = 0,03). Les taux de mise-bas n’étaient pas affectés par le traitement. Ces résultats suggèrent que les truies allaitant des petites
portées sont plus susceptibles d’initier une phase folliculaire durant la lactation, mais qu’en leur donner de l’AT prévient ceci et augmente
le taux d’ovulation et la taille subséquente des portées.
(Traduit par Docteur Serge Messier)

A primary constraint to consistent weaner output is the availabil-
ity of enough service-ready gilts and sows when required for breed-
ing (1), which is influenced by weaning-to-estrus intervals (WEIs).
It is established that long WEIs ($ 6 d) result in shorter estrus dura-
tions, lower farrowing rates, and smaller litter sizes (2,3), probably
due to poor timing of insemination relative to ovulation. Very short
WEIs (# 3 d) are similarly associated with poorer fertility (2) and,
while not specifically investigated, this is also presumably due to
poor timing of insemination. Causes of variation in WEIs have pre-
viously been reviewed and it was noted that WEI was impacted by
differences in the size of the ovarian follicles at weaning (4). Smaller
follicles at weaning, which are presumably due to variations in sow
nutrient intake caused by the temperature of their environment dur-
ing lactation, were associated with longer WEIs. This would account
for the usually longer WEI of primiparous sows.
Ovarian follicles grow and regress in waves during late lacta-
tion and WEI and oocyte quality can be influenced by follicle size
at weaning and when sows are bred relative to the stage of this
wave (4). Feeding altrenogest (AT) to primiparous sows from the
day before weaning suppresses the release of luteinizing hormone
(LH), which limits follicle growth to 4 to 6 mm and blocks estrus,
thus allowing a longer period of metabolic recovery after lactation.
The LH pulsatility suppression lasts for about 5 h after 2 daily AT
feeds (5) and for more than 12 h after feeding AT for 13 d (6). When
pulsatile release of LH resumes, the follicular phase ensues and sows
return to estrus in about 6 d. In addition to metabolic recovery, the
effect of AT likely involves synchronization of follicle waves with
mating.
Follicular growth may start earlier in sows with small litters
(# 8 piglets) as they are subject to lower metabolic demands during
lactation. These sows may experience late lactation estrus or a very
short WEI, which impairs the predictability of the WEI and poten-
tially reduces their fertility after breeding. Feeding AT during late
lactation to sows with normal litter sizes has been associated with
a tendency to increase subsequent litter sizes (7,8). Therefore, we
hypothesized that feeding AT to primiparous sows nursing small

Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
(Am-in); School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy 5371, Australia (Kirkwood).
Address all correspondence to Dr. Roy N. Kirkwood; telephone: 161 8 8313 7617; e-mail: roy.kirkwood@adelaide.edu.au
Received May 7, 2018. Accepted June 26, 2018.

228 The Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research 2019;83:228–230

litters during the last week of lactation will prevent resumption of
follicle growth during lactation, resulting in normal and synchro-
nized WEI and increased subsequent litter sizes.
This pilot study was conducted on a 1200-sow commercial farrow-
to-finish farm in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand from August 2014 to
May 2015. It was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and
Use Committee at Chulalongkorn University. At day 21 of a 28-day
lactation, 40 primiparous Landrace-Yorkshire sows were selected
that were nursing 8 or fewer piglets. Sows were divided equally
into 2 groups to either receive orally 20 mg/d of altrenogest (AT)
(Virbagest; Virbac Animal Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand) during
the last 7 d of lactation, including the day of weaning (n = 20), or to
serve as non-treated controls (n = 20).
To facilitate estrus detection, sows had daily fence-line contact
with a mature boar from the day after weaning. At estrus detec-
tion, all sows were subject to an ovarian examination with tran-
srectal ultrasound using a 5-MHz convex probe (HS-2000; Honda
Electronics, Tokyo, Japan) and the preovulatory follicles ($ 0.6 mm)
were counted. Sows were inseminated at estrus detection and again
24 h later with 3 3 109 sperm in 80-mL of extender. From weaning,
sows were housed individually in gestation stalls in an open-sided
barn and were fed 3 kg/d of a commercially formulated gestation
diet. During gestation, feed allowance was 2 kg/d. Water was freely
available from nipple drinkers. Data recorded were WEI, number of
preovulatory follicles immediately before insemination, and subse-
quent farrowing rates and litter sizes. All analyses were conducted
with SAS 9.1 (SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina, USA) and data are
presented as mean 6 SD. The WEI, number of preovulatory follicles,
and litter sizes were tested for normality using the UNIVARIATE
procedure option NORMAL. As the number of preovulatory follicles
did not follow a normal distribution, they were compared using
Mann-Whitney U-test. Weaning-to-estrus intervals (WEIs) and total-
born piglets were compared using t-test and farrowing rates were
compared using Fisher’s exact test.
All sows exhibited estrus and were inseminated. The control
group had a shorter WEI than the AT-fed group (2.7 6 1.0 versus
5.7 6 1.4 d, respectively; P # 0.0001). The farrowing rates were not
significantly different between treated and control groups (95%
versus 90%, respectively), which reflected the excellent breeding
management on this farm. Compared to the control sows, however,
the AT-fed sows had more preovulatory follicles (22.7 6 3.6 versus
17.3 6 3.5; P # 0.0001) and more total-born piglets (11.9 6 1.8 versus
10.6 6 2.0; P = 0.03).
Our data show that primiparous sows nursing small litters exhibit
a shorter WEI, which suggests that follicle growth resumes during
late lactation. These data also support our hypothesis that feeding
altrenogest (AT) during late lactation suppresses the resumption of
follicle growth and results in a normal WEI. If we accept that follicu-
lar phases will be of similar length in both treatments, it suggests that
the follicular phase in AT-fed sows tended to be initiated 3 d before
weaning and, by extension, the AT-fed sows were subject to approxi-
mately 3 d of follicular growth suppression. Previous studies with
weaned sows have shown that a short duration of AT feeding can
result in poorer performance in sows that had large follicles at wean-
ing, probably because these follicles lose their estrogenic capacity and
become atretic (6). In the present study, however, this adverse effect of
2000;64:0–00
short-term AT feeding on fertility was not evident when the ovaries
had small follicles at weaning, as would be expected in late lactation.
It has been demonstrated that follicles continue to grow to about
4 to 6 mm even under AT suppression (5,9). Therefore, it is appar-
ent that, while AT suppresses both luteinizing hormone (LH) and
follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), the degree of suppression, par-
ticularly for FSH, is not sufficient to prevent follicles from growing
to a medium size and sufficient gonadotrophic activity remains to
allow limited follicle growth (5). This may explain, at least in part,
why the feeding of AT to gilts results in increased ovulation rates
and larger litters for gilts and young sows (10–12). In a scenario
analogous to the mechanism of estrus synchronization, at the initia-
tion of AT feeding, the growth of medium follicles is arrested, while
smaller follicles grow to medium size. When AT is withdrawn, the
follicle pool would contain the original medium follicles and other
small follicles that had time to achieve medium size. If these follicles
have not initiated apoptosis and oocyte degeneration, an increased
ovulation rate and potentially larger litters will ensue.
In conclusion, this study showed that primiparous sows nursing
small litters are likely to initiate a follicular phase during lactation,
which leads to shorter and unpredictable weaning-to-estrus intervals
(WEIs). The feeding of AT prevented this follicular phase during
lactation, normalized the WEI, and increased ovulation rate and
subsequent litter size.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Thailand
Research Fund (TRG5780251) and the Ratchadaphiseksomphot
Endowment Fund, Chulalongkorn University.
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