Threonine requirement for reproduction in swine.

An experiment was conducted to estimate the threonine requirement of pregnant swine. L-threonine was added to a fortified corn-gelatin diet and fed at a rate to provide five threonine levels of 3.59, 4.95, 6.31, 7.67 and 9.03 g/d. Twenty-five crossbred gilts were randomly assigned to these five dietary treatments. Increasing threonine resulted in a difference (P less than .01) in nitrogen (N) retention, with maximum retention at 4.95 g/d threonine intake. Blood samples were drawn before and after feeding. Although plasma urea N did not change significantly, the lowest level occurred at an intake of 4.95 g/d threonine. As threonine intake increased, plasma threonine increased quadratically (P less than .05). This increase was accompanied by a quadratic (P less than .005) decrease in plasma lysine. Sow weight gains increased quadratically (P less than .01) with increasing threonine levels. Litter weight, number of pigs born, baby pig gains, daily milk yield and milk protein were not influenced by threonine levels. The lysine-alpha-ketoglutarate reductase activity of the sow liver samples increased linearly (P less than .05) as dietary threonine levels increased. Based upon metabolic criteria 4.95 g/d L-threonine met the requirement for animals in this experiment. If 75% of threonine in a corn-soybean meal diet is available, the threonine requirement for reproduction would be no higher than 5.4 g/d or .30% dietary threonine when daily feed intake is 1.82 kg.