Effect of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Boulardii CNCM I-1079 Supplementation to Sows on Colostrum igG Concentration

Abstract The transmission of passive immunity from the sow to the neonate piglets through colostrum is crucial for their future development. The aim of this experiment was to demonstrate that feeding the live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii CNCM I-1079 (SCB) increases the immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration in colostrum. In total, 620 colostrum samples were taken from mixed-parity sows (1-9) in 11 farms in Colombia. There were 2 treatments: control (CON; standard feed in gestation and lactation), and SCB (CON + 1 × 109 colony forming units (CFU)/kg, fed from 3 weeks before the expected farrowing date). The samples were taken within the first 4 hours after the birth of the first piglet, from both sides of the teats of the sow, and immediately analyzed with a MA871 refractometer to obtain a °Brix value. Furthermore, each value was attributed to 1 of the 4 following categories regarding IgG concentration: Very good, Adequate, Limited, and Poor. Data were analyzed with SPSS Statistics 26.0 (IBM) and submitted to an analysis of variance with farm as random effect, parity rank and treatment as fixed effects, and their interactions. However, no interaction was found between any of the variables studied. Colostrum from sows in the SCB treatment displayed a higher °Brix value (P < 0.001) than the 1 from sows in the CON treatment. Additionally, the percentage of sows fitting the categories Very good and Adequate was greater in the SCB treatment than in the CON, and the one fitting the categories Limited and Poor was greater in the CON treatment than in the SCB. It is concluded that supplementing sows with Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii CNCM I-1079 from 3 weeks before farrowing increases IgG concentration in colostrum, helping the neonate piglets to acquire the passive immunity necessary to improve later performance.