Reducing summer infertility and improving litter size with betaine

Betaine is a commonly used dietary supplement which has the potential to increase temperature tolerance and reduce the negative effects of heat stress on pigs. It can also improve reproductive performance and ovulation rate.

This project aimed to determine whether betaine supplementation in gestation diets during summer would reduce pregnancy losses and increase litter size.

Value for producers:

• Betaine supplementation in gestation diets for older parity sows and gilts prior to mating can increase litter size and reduce the number of non-pregnant females post-insemination.

Recommendations:

• Betaine should be added to the gestation diets of older parity sows at a dose of 7.6-9.0g/day.
• Further research is required to determine whether there are any negative effects that result from feeding betaine to gits prior to mating.