ANALYSIS OF THE ENERGY VALUE OF SOWS COLOSTRUM

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the gross energy (GE) of sow colostrum in different sampling times and find out how time affects the GE of sow colostrum. Colostrum samples were collected at every hour from the beginning of farrowing to the 12^th hour. Then, the samples were analyzed for GE, dry matter, crude protein, fat and lactose. We detected the highest GE of colostrum soon after the beginning of farrowing: 5.30 MJ.kg^-1in the 1^st hour, 5.48 MJ.kg^-1 in the 2^nd hour and 5.38 MJ.kg^-1 in the 3^rd hour. The lowest GE of colostrum was detected in the 11^th hour (4.90 MJ.kg^-1) and the 12^th hour (4.88 MJ.kg^-1) after the beginning of farrowing. We did not find a statistically significant relationship between the times of sampling and the gross energy concentration in sow colostrum.